


Middle grounds

by Khallsnea



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Lemon, M/M, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 14:40:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khallsnea/pseuds/Khallsnea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Grimmjow could reply, the two figures disappeared inside the Garganta, the path closing immediately after them. He walked slowly to the house, smiling tiredly. He was curious about Gin's plans. It seemed that despite the partial failure of his original scheme, the secondary one was already set into motion.  It's set just after the karakura's war, with several flashbacks covering the previous month.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prison

**Author's Note:**

> First warning: Inoue is slighly OOC. I have always imagined her character more mature that what is shown in the series. I guess it is expected if you have no family and you are living alone in your teens.
> 
> Second warning: It is rated M for a reason. In future chapters, there are some hard yaoi situations. Don't read if you are not comfortable with it.
> 
> I started this story long ago, but I lost interest and left it for a while. Finally, I'm close to finish it, so I decided to publish it. However, the story has run its own path, which is now quite away from the canon. It was bothering me some time ago, but I just didn't care anymore. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks a lot to my beta, Kaemiri. Without her help, I would have never published it :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. All characters associated with the series are the property of Tite Kubo. I'm just playing with them.

**Chapter I. Prison.**

**Soul Society. Few hours after Karakura's winter war.**

After bringing the prisoners in, the four low rank shinigami left the room, securing the iron bar doors behind them. Inside the cell, two dark figures sat tiredly on the floor, leaning against the old wooden wall. Their clothes were completely trashed, and their bodies were covered with a mixture of dust and blood.

The younger one finally broke the silence, running out of patience. "Tell me Gin, what the fuck are we doing here?"

"C'mon Kurosaki. Just enjoy this peaceful moment… the sun is still shining…" his eyes were looking through a tiny window in the cell's roof. "A real blue sky…. I've missed it so much…"

"We should be out there! I can't believe we have been locked up here…" He raised one leg and braced it with an arm, resting his head on the knee.

"Mah, mah, you can't expect them to trust us? Trust is something you gain with patience and time." The voice was oddly calm… and Ichigo couldn't say if he was being serious or just mocking.

"Yeah, and it's something you lose in a second without anybody even questioning it. I have realized that so you can skip me the crap."

"This is Soul Society, after all… things almost never change…" the older man seemed now completely lost in his thoughts. "After so many years, so few things have changed… and not always for the better." He turned to Ichigo before adding, "But they will. We will make them change, even if it's not by the diplomatic way." His smile was slowly turning into his characteristic wolfy smirk, "And that's gonna be fun."

"Fun?" Ichigo's voice increased as his last bits of calm shattered apart. He stood up and started padding around the cell, like a caged tiger "Do you find it funny? We know nothing of what's going on in Hueco Mundo, nothing about my friends, nothing about… anyone! What if they are fighting with the captains? Or worst, what if they are fighting my friends? What if…"

"Stop it, Kurosaki. They are smarter than that. Starrk will be careful enough. Forget about them, they were espadas, after all. They will be fine". He opened his eyes slightly, just enough to meet Ichigo's. "Keep your mind clear, even if it is rather uncomfortable down here."

Ichigo sighed and tried to calm down a little. Although he had no idea who this Starrk was, the older man was damn right about him. His inner world would be extremely unstable by now… and the last thing he needed was an angry Shirosaki barking at him.

Ichigo sat down in a corner, legs crossed in a meditation stance. He tried to find a comfortable position besides the reiatsu suppressors, which were pissing him off. He looked again at his partner. Gin was sitting in the same spot since he came to the cell. His eyes were closed and his breath utterly calm. He was probably already meditating.

He tried to do the same. He took a deep breath and focused on meditating. It had never been easy for him, and this wasn't an exception. He just needed to breathe… And focus…. Breathe…. Focus…

Ichigo opened his eyes. He could hardly recognize his inner world. The water level was lower than the last time; the buildings were high skyscrapers again. But the weather… it wasn't raining, it was a huge hurricane! Wind blew savagely, crystal windows were cracking everywhere and one particular habitant of this world was looking at him with mad yellow eyes. His white copy opened his mouth to yell while flying directly to him, sword already at hand.

"Ichigo! This time I swear I'm gonna kill you!"

"Wait! I don't know how… Ah! Do not shoot me a Cero, asshole! I haven't come here to fight!"

Ichigo barely avoided the cero, but was immediately attacked by his other self, sending him flying to impact into the nearest building.

"You should have thought about that before you dared to come here with this weather!"

As soon as Ichigo stood up again, the hollow resumed his attack, pressing him breathlessly. He continued complaining while Ichigo barely managed to defend himself with his sword. "I should have taken your body and made it stop!"

"Don't you dare threaten me! I would make it stop myself if I knew how!" Ichigo sent a getsuga tensho, which was easily rejected by his white nemesis, who sent him flying again to crash into another building.

"Don't fucking joke with me, Ichigo! What's your problem now? The war is over!"

"But I don't know what happened in Hueco Mundo! I know nothing of my friends…" Ichigo stood at the building roof, looking unsure and worried… Both had stop fighting, but kept arguing, the level of their voices increasing as the anger filled their minds.

"Then why don't you go there and find what's going on? You could have gone there and come back without anybody missing you. What's your problem? Just. Do. Something!"

"What's my problem? How the hell I'm supposed to go there? Is there a Garganta hidden in my cell?"

The hollow moved faster than Ichigo expected. He hit him in the ribs, sending him flying again. It was so fast that the shinigami hadn't seen him at all. He found himself pinned into the ground, with the hollow straddling him. The white figure twisted his arm painfully on his back, making Ichigo scream. His sword was nowhere to be found and he couldn't make a move. The hollow's voice sounded deadly serious and somehow hurt…

"Any high level hollow can open a Garganta. I could open any fucking Garganta to any fucking place you wanted to go."

Ichigo's voice was barely a hiss "Why you didn't tell me before?"

Shirosaki twisted Ichigo's arm a little more, making the shinigami scream again.

"I shouldn't have told you even now. I have given you ALL my powers; you at least should know what it means…"

While Ichigo was still analyzing the meaning of these words, Shirosaki suddenly released him and went away walking slowly.

"Wait! Where are you going? How can I…"

"You already know how to do it. You have to feel… although you still suck at feeling reiatsu."

Ichigo opened his eyes to find Rukia looking at him through the cell bars. She was bandaged but looked unharmed, through utterly worried. Her look scared him… He immediately jumped and ran to see her closer.

"Rukia! What happened?"

She just punched him hard in the head, taking Ichigo by surprise.

"Dumbass! I should ask you this! We just came back from Hueco Mundo to find you jailed! You can't behave properly for once? What the hell have you done?"

"Is everybody OK?" Ichigo was glad to find his friend in good shape, but couldn't help but feel responsible for their wounds, as if everything had been his fault in some way… if he had been stronger, they would had been safer…

"Of course they are. Who do you think we are? Inoue is taking care of all the injured, and Renji, Chad and Ishida are still in the infirmary. But they are going to be fine in no time."

Ichigo gaze went down when he hear about Ishida and Inoue… He was the responsible for Ishida's wound and he would probably be scared of him… He felt the sorrow evolving him, slowly pushing his spirit down… until Rukia hit him again.

"What's with this face? We have won the war and everybody is OK. You should be happy! And… by the way…" She looked puzzled at the cell bars. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well…" He lowered his gaze, his voice unsure and nervous. "I use my full hollow form to defeat Aizen … so, they are trying to decide if I'm a danger to everybody… they sort of think that my hollow is too powerful to be controlled, and they assumed that he can just possess me at any moment now…"

"And can he?" Rukia's gaze was on Ichigo's, frowning concerned.

"… well… I guess Inoue and Ishida have explained to you what happened in the fight with Ulquiorra… then I suppose they have good reasons to not trust me…" The sadness was painfully tangible in his cracking voice.

"Wait, wait. Ichigo, stop. What the fuck are you talking about?" Her eyes opened in confusion, bringing Ichigo out of his concerns. "They told us that you barely managed to defeat him, and almost died there. There's something else?"

Ichigo's eyes widen in surprise. His friends hadn't said a word about Shiro being berserk and attacking them! Then as he thought about it, his surprise slowly changed to anger as he realized that if nobody knew it, they had no reasons at all to distrust him…

"Ichigo?" Rukia was still there, surprised at his sudden scowl.

"Oh, sorry Rukia. It's just… I did some pretty stupid things during that battle and Inoue and Ishida got hurt because of that… I would like to apologize to them… could you tell them to come here? … Please?" Ichigo's face looked defeated again… A gaze that Rukia remembered clearly. He had the same frightened eyes after the previous Soul Society incident, just after Byakuya's fight… back there, he was afraid of his hollow. Was he afraid again? Were the rumors about his powers true?

"Of course I will tell them." She tried to change the mood, something she always used to obtain with some teasing. "And, anyway, how long do you plan to be living in this cell? My home is far more comfortable, you know?"

Ichigo finally managed to smile her. He gave a quick glance to Gin, who was still meditating, before answer. However, Rukia didn't miss the movement of Ichigo's eyes.

"Don't know really… but I hope it will be over soon."

"Ichigo, your… situation has it any relation with him?" Her voice was calm and soft… but somehow it was too soft to be fine… Ichigo's eyes widen slowly again. What could he say? The situation was too damn complicated…

A voice coming from the corner of the cell spared him the trouble to find an answer.

"Mah, mah… everything is related in this life, Kuchiki. Even you… you had the hoygoku, so, in a way, you precipitated the beginning of the war…" Although the voice had the usual wicked edge that Rukia remembered too well, it was also somehow different… it lacked some of the passion it used to emanate.

"Ichimaru… You betrayed us… then you apparently betrayed Aizen… what are you fighting for?" Her gaze was on him, even though the old captain was still keeping his eyes on the small roof's window. She had never been able to understand this man, and it unnerved her more than she dared to admit. "Are you trying to regain your position in Soul Society after all what you did? Do you really expect us to trust you?"

"Such a passion… Young people are always so passionate…" He turned his face to look at the young shinigami, his trademark smile piercing through her frail nerves. "I'm not gonna discuss it with you, Rukia-chan."

She could felt her calm almost physically shattering… and decided to wait for a better chance to speak with her friend. "Fine, neither will I. Ichigo, I have to go. See you…"

She rushed out of the building, obviously furious. Ichigo watched speechless as she left, before snapping angrily at his cell partner. "Gin! The fuck was that for?"

"C'mon Kurosaki. I thought you needed help… as it seems that you didn't know how to answer her questions…. I was just helping you to get out of the hole you were falling into…" He smiled faintly at some lost memory. "Anyway, it has always been so easy to piss her off…"

Ichigo was speechless again. This man always seemed to be a step ahead of him.

"By the way, Ichigo… I was wondering…" The young shinigami snap out of his thoughts as a pair of silver eyes stared at him. "How do you expect that Soul Society trusts you if you don't even trust your friends?"

Ichigo's eyes opened in surprise for the umpteenth time that day… he wanted to explain everything to his friends but how could he? There were too many things… and what if they didn't understand him? What if they didn't approve… or if they got angry at him… what if they wanted to kill the espada…. Thinking of the devil, he suddenly remembered the conversation with his white self.

"Gin… Do you think I could open a Garganta? We could just go there for a moment…"

"Oi, it took you long enough to realize. You came up with this idea by yourself?" Gin was looking at him mildly amused.

Ishido blushed, feeling deeply ashamed with the admission "… Shiro told me…"

Gin smirked widely. "The bastard is getting soft on you…"

"You already knew? Why the hell didn't you tell me before?" Ichigo drop down unceremoniously to the ground, resting his back on the cell bars. If it was true, it was worth a try… but the shinigami would probably realize that an inter-dimensional door opened in the middle of Seireitei. Or so he imagined. "But… won't anybody notice here? I mean, they will feel the flow of my reiatsu, won't they?"

"It can be helped. If you wanna try, I can make some arrangements."

Ichigo jumped to his feet, raising his arms in dismay as the possibility of some action was finally displayed in front of him. "Of course I want to! You should have told me earlier!"

"Quit bitching, Kurosaki. Take a seat and relax. It won't take long"

Ichigo shut up but kept standing, looking at the older man carefully. Gin started whispering something… it looked like some kind of kido… Suddenly the whole prison was covered by a glowing yellow light. Ichigo's eyes opened in surprise, they were still wearing the reiatsu suppressors, so Gin wasn't supposed to be able to use any kido at all… Before Ichigo could open his mouth to ask, the handcuffs placed on Gin wrists unlocked and fell to the floor.

"What have you done?" Ichigo heart started speeding up, as he noticed his own handcuffs unlocking. "How can you remove them?"

"You really though that I would let them put these on me if I weren't able to remove them? Please, my kido is far better than that."

Ichigo expected some kind of advice about the best way to open a Garganta, but the other shinigami was walking slowly to his former place on the floor. He just sat there and made himself comfortable.

"You are not coming?" Ichigo's voice revealed a note of disappointment, as he was waiting for some kind of help…

"C'mon, Kurosaki. Of course I'm coming, but you need to open a directed Garganta. We have about one hour, I'm not gonna risk more time with the illusion, so, you can start trying to focus in on Grimmjow's reiatsu and opened it there. I suppose you didn't expect me to cross all of Hueco Mundo looking for them."

"Wait, wait. What illusion? Are you talking about this glowing yellow…. thing?"

"It's an illusion cage. Nobody will notice any change in reiatsu coming out from here. And nobody will notice it's here… except a few people good enough at feeling reiatsu, but none of them are currently close, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, I don't wanna take more risks than necessary, so I guess one hour is OK."

"A few people? You mean the captains?"

"Na… Probably Yamamoto and Ukitake… but most surely Urahara, Hachi and your friends… the Quincy and that girl… they are surprisingly sensitive to any kind of reiatsu."

"Oh, I see…" He dropped the subject and focused in his new challenge. "So, I need to open the Garganta and direct it… OK" Ichigo closed his eyes. He tried to focus on Grimmjow's reiatsu… but he couldn't feel the slightest trace. Of course, he was here; he wasn't in Hueco Mundo, so how the hell was he supposed to detect that? Besides, was he even able to open a Garganta? He tried to remember the countless times that he had seen Grimmjow opening one… It seemed so easy… and thinking about it, the arrancar always managed to open it close to Ichigo, no matter where he was… so, he must be able to detect him in some way…

He tried again to focus in Grimmjow's reiatsu and mimicked the movements of the arrancar. The air ripped apart and a black line stretched following the path of Ichigo's hand. It was small and looked terribly unstable, but it was definitively a Garganta.

"I've done it, Gin!" Ichigo's eyes shined with emotion.

"You better not attempt to cross it. It's far too unstable, you are gonna get lost in the way." Gin opened slightly his eyes to tease the younger shinigami "Try to open a door instead of a window."

"I just need to practice a little, asshole; I'm going to do it!"

Ichigo closed this one and repeated the process. After half an hour of failed attempts, it looked now stable enough to cross it. When looking across, the white sands of Hueco Mundo were clearly visible. He tried to feel the reiatsu of the arrancar, but he wasn't able to find it yet. He started worrying again… maybe he couldn't do that because there was no reiatsu to feel… maybe he hadn't survived after all…

"Are you giving up, Kurosaki?" Gin was still watching mildly amused as the young boy struggled with his untamed dark reiatsu.

"Of course not! I never give up, I've told you that. I'm gonna do it!" His face was a display of pure resolve, although the weariness of this endless day was easy to notice in his heated breath.

"Well, well… but maybe you should think about your priorities here…. Do you want to learn how to open a Garganta properly or you want to see what has happened there? Because we are running out of time."

Ichigo blinked at Gin, not sure if he had understood what was he suggesting. He asked carefully. "Can you open one?"

"Of course not. I'm just a shinigami" Besides Ichigo's intense stare, his face was still unreadable.

Ichigo sighed. Just a shinigami were the last words he would dare to use to describe the older man… His thoughts were a mess again. He wasn't use to asking for help… and the idea of releasing Shirosaki in the core of Seireitei unnerved him a little… but Gin was right. He needed to know what happened. The uncertainty was eating him… he wanted to know no matter what, even if it means accepting his help. Again.

"OK, Gin. But I'm gonna come back when we get there."

"As long as you come back in half an hour, before I remove the illusion is perfectly OK. " Gin sat up and walked to him, while Ichigo's figure disappeared in a blur of black reiatsu. Smiling, the shinigami joined the white figure staring amused at him.

"Oi Gin, long time no see." The hollow grinned evilly, as the shinigami approached him, their trademark smirks on their faces.

"Hi Shiro. I hope you are better at opening a Garganta." Gin cocked his head, half teasing him.

The hollow snorted, not taking the bait. "Ichigo sucks at reiatsu manipulation. How close you want to go?"

"Just outside the house is OK. We don't need to scare them."

Shiro's smile broadened as a perfect Garganta opened at his command. A big white house appeared at the other side.

"Great. There we go." Gin stepped in the opening, the hollow following close behind. They knocked at the door to find an amused arrancar laughing at them.

"Took you long enough. I was thinking of breaking in there to look for you."

Shirosaki smirked at the espada. "You should have done it, kitty. It's deadly boring there."

Grimmjow's smirk quickly became a snarl at the white hollow mocking tone. "Don't call me kitty, asshole!"

Shiro chucked and lowered his voice. "Make me."

Grimmjow's fist aimed at the hollow's face. Shiro avoided it easily, smiling madly. "You are damn slow, kitty. Need a proper motivation?"

The arrancar was grinning widely by now. "Shut the fuck up, hollow. I'll teach you some manners!"

"Kids, kids… lets go play out there. I have some work to do." Without any warning, Gin caught both hollows and sent them flying away to the sand dunes behind, as far as possible from the house. Not bothering with a second glance, the shinigami disappeared into the house, waving his hand and leaving them half buried in the white sand. "See you in a while!"

Grimmjow brushed the sand from his clothes and sat down on the dune. He was looking amused at the orange haired shinigami, who has apparently recovered his body just before impacting with the ground. Shirosaki had a twisted sense of humor…

"Fucking bastard…" Ichigo was cursing while removing most of the sand from his clothes. He approached the arrancar slowly.

"Who are you talking about, shinigami?" Grimmjow cocked an eyebrow, giving him a quick glance before stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his hands.

"To both of you! Can't you two stop arguing for a moment?" Ichigo frowned to look down at him.

"He was provoking me." The arrancar pointed out.

"As if it was difficult!" Ichigo shot back at him, dropping down at his side.

"Don't make me kick your ass shinigami! Stop bitching!" His tone was thick and low, without real heat in it. Somehow, Ichigo found it oddly relaxing.

The young shinigami finally smirked, eyes narrowing slightly. "Make me."

Grimmjow smiled widely, easily falling into their arguing routine. Ichigo had finally got used to the body switches with his hollow, and it looks like they were getting closer…

The arrancar laid down, looking at the moon over their heads. "So, you managed to defeat Aizen. I wasn't sure if you could actually kill him."

Ichigo looked down at him. Sighing, he fell onto his back, fixing his gaze at that weird eternal half moon. "I… we didn't kill him… just hurt him enough for Urahara to seal him."

"You don't look exactly happy, shinigami… what's bothering you? You fucking defeated that bastard! Everything is over for you now. You can come here anytime and I will gladly beat your ass!" Grimmjow smiled broadly. However, Ichigo couldn't bring himself to smile. He just sighed again… and a sad smile replaced his frown.

"Nothing is over, Grimmjow… on the contrary. Everything is starting now. We are in detention, waiting for the trial. We won't be able to go anywhere any soon…"

Grimmjow's smile faded away. He incorporated a little, resting on this elbows to face Ichigo. "Are you joking? Are you telling me you defeated Aizen and they just imprisoned you? You have already escaped, I guess…"

"I'm not gonna escape. I promised Gin I would help him… so if he expects to convince Soul Society about…" Ichigo closed his eyes… and sighed again "I don't really know what he is trying to do…In fact, I don't give a damn about Soul Society… I just wanted to go home…"

Grimmjow looked really puzzled "I understand they imprisoned Gin, but you? How much do they know about you?"

Ichigo smiled sadly again…. and kept his eyes locked on the moon.

"Nothing. Urahara and Matsumoto saw me fighting Aizen with Shiro's released body… the others arrived to see him talking with Gin… They fear my power. They think my hollow is too powerful to be controlled, that he will eventually possess me… and as I refused to leave Gin alone, they imprisoned both of us. He will be judged by treason while I'm just under 'surveillance'."

"And what about your friends?"

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably… "I… I haven't seen them yet… I don't know what… how…"

"Oh, please. It's not such a big deal. They have already accepted you with that freaking mask. It's not so different!"

"It's completely different! And what happened in that tower… I almost killed Ishida…"

"It wasn't you, dumbass!"

"But all of that happened because of me!"

"Stop Ichigo! Get over it! It was a fucking war! People fight, get hurt and die! Just be happy that you won and all your friends are still alive…"

Ichigo noticed an unusual bitterness in Grimmjow's voice.

"Oh, I never asked… who were at your side? Are all of them OK?"

"Forget it, shinigami. It's not your fucking problem" Grimmjow laid down again, not meeting Ichigo's eyes.

To Ichigo, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He had chosen to walk this path with the arrancar despite all the difficulties, and he had always thought it hadn't been alone. Grimmjow had never told him anything about Hueco Mundo, or a single word about the other arrancars. The only time he saw him caring about anybody beside himself was in that damn tower when he was fighting Ulquiorra… He understood he couldn't risk betraying Gin, or somebody else, but now it was at least unnerving. Aizen was out of the picture, but things seemed to keep getting worse.

Cursing loudly, the shinigami jumped on the arrancar, straddling him and punching him hard in the face. "Of course it's my fucking problem, stupid dickhead! I'm in prison with Gin because of this! Don't you dare tell me it's not my fucking problem!"

"Oi, oi Kurosaki. I like this look on your face…" Grimmjow griped his wrists, smirking again while teasing the younger boy. He pulled him closer to whisper, "but you are asking the wrong person."

Before any of them could say another word, Gin's tired voice appeared out of nowhere.

"Time's over, Kurosaki." He left the house and approached them, making no sign of surprise to the unusual scene in front of him, where Ichigo was still straddling Grimmjow`s waist, with both wrist caught in the arrancar iron grip. "We must go back."

Ichigo got up slowly and walked to Gin, his voice harder than he intended. "Next time, you are gonna explain to me the whole fucking story, Grimmjow."

"Keep dreaming, shinigami." The arrancar words were meant to keep the light mood, but there was an odd sad edge in his tone.

Gin smirked slightly as Ichigo changed body with his white self, who turned to face the arrancar behind them, "You still owe me a fight, kitty."

Grimmjow chuckled softly, standing arms crossed as Shiro was already opening the portal. "Need a map to your cell, hollow?"

Shiro grinned widely and took a step into the darkness, words echoing behind. "Nope. It's much easier than looking for your tiny reiatsu."

Before Grimmjow could reply, the two figures disappeared inside the Garganta, the path closing immediately after them. He walked slowly to the house, smiling tiredly. He was curious about Gin's plans. It seemed that despite the partial failure of his original scheme, the secondary one was already set into motion. That old shinigami was really something…


	2. Memories part I

Chapter II. Memories, part I.

 

Karakura town. 1 month before the war.  
"Did the arrancar go back to Hueco Mundo?" Renji found Ichigo staring at the sky. He had rushed there worried about his friend's life, but was faced with the sight of a mentally defeated Ichigo… and somehow it made everything all the more disturbing.

"I've lost. I've really lost this one." Ichigo admitted… Tousen had appeared just in time to force Grimmjow back to Hueco Mundo, leaving him with the unpleasing flavor of a blatant defeat.

After that fight he decided to do something. He has been quiet long enough… and he had bitterly discovered that waiting was pointless. A few days ago, Chad and Inoue were severely wounded and this time he'd almost lost Rukia… He couldn't afford to waste any more time wandering around while his friends were being hurt.

Finding the vizards was a shocking experience. His hollow had finally taken control of him for a few seconds, and this time he did feel the hollow's presence stronger than ever. The thrill of the fight, the freedom, the rush, the danger of being chased…

All of them were so intense that they completely overwhelmed him.

When he left the vizards to go home, he couldn't stop thinking about his hollow. He hadn't felt his sort of emotions for a long time… He had been fighting like hell to rescue Rukia. Back there, he had been so worried for her that he wouldn’t dare enjoy any battle. There was too much to lose if he didn't succeed… If he thought about it, he never fought just for the fighting itself, never allowed himself to delve into the rush and to feel the adrenaline filling your veins and caressing the danger closing around you and….

He had been randomly walking around, his steps finally leading him to the park. When he was a kid, he used to go there to escape from everything. The silence, the sun, the wind, the birds… all these familiar features had always helped him to relax. Ichigo lay down under a cherry-tree, his gaze lost between the few brown leaves left. Winter was coming, but the weather was still warm enough to enjoy the evening.

His body was still bruised from the battle. His clothes were covered in dust and dry blood and his left arm ached from an especially powerful kick from Hiyori. That girl was incredibly strong with that mask on… but his hollow overpowered her so easily… it was scary…

He absolutely needed that power to fight the arrancars. If he could master it, he will surely win that one… Grimmjow… next time they meet, he will make sure to beat him down. ..

The shinigami was so lost in his thoughts that he never realized a Garganta opened in the park. Two figures emerged quietly, and closed the path behind them. Both smirked at the view of the shinigami laying peacefully under the tree, completely obvious to their presence. One of them, a shinigami with silver hair, set a 70 level kido barrier around them, including the oblivious orange haired boy inside.

The teal-haired arrancar spoke first, grinning madly. "Long time no see, shinigami."

Ichigo jumped at these words. He was suddenly aware of the presence of the barrier and cursed himself for being so careless… His hand automatically reached for his sword, even though he knew he had almost no energy left after the battle with the vizards.

"What do you want, Grimmjow?" He tried his best to not look afraid, although he was perfectly aware that in his current state, he was no match for him.

Much to his surprise, the arrancar just found a spot not far away from him and sat down, his grin still present. "You are lucky this time, shinigami. I haven't come here to fight you. Not yet."

Ichigo turned to the other shinigami. He barely remembered him from the execution grounds of Seireitei. One of Aizen's allies. He was still trying to remember his name when the man spoke.

"Nice to meet you, Kurosaki. I'm Ichimaru Gin, former captain of the III division." Gin approached Ichigo, who was still standing, sword in hand. "I have come here to meet you. Do you mind if I tell you an old story?" His silver eyes opened to lock with Ichigo's. His voice grew serious "I have just one request. This talk is not going anywhere outside this barrier. Tell anybody a single word and I'm gonna kill you myself. Understood?"

Ichigo blinked before nodding. He didn't have many choices in the matter anyway…

"OK, I suggest you make yourself comfortable. I'm not sure how long this will take… you are the third shinigami to hear it ever, so pay attention."

With these words, Gin sat down close to the tree where Ichigo had been laying. Ichigo followed him. If they had wanted to kill him, he would have been dead for a while, so he just lowered his sword and took a seat close to the older shinigami.

"A long, long time ago, when I was 8, I met a small girl in the Rungokai. At that time, I had just left Rangiku and was going to the Seireitei to become a shinigami. One night, while I was tired and starving, I sensed the smell of some roasted meat. I followed the scent and found a girl with wild crimson hair sitting alone by the fire. Before I could do or say anything, she saw me and cheerfully invited me to join her. I almost devoured the whole piece of meat before even looking at her. She was younger than me, but as lonely as I was... we decided to travel together for a while."

Gin was lost in his thoughts. He was looking at the sky, and seemed oblivious to his surroundings.

"Every day, she disappeared from my side to go hunting. I never saw her, but she always came back with food enough for both of us. One week after we met, we were attacked. Some bandits jumped into our camp and started looking for anything of value. I tried to fight back, but I was a tiny boy and they were four grown men. When I was sure I was gonna die, I saw a white demon beating down everybody." Gins turned to face Ichigo before continue "Well, white demon is the only thing I could of thought at that time… that 'creature' had claws, fangs, bat wings, a curious hole below her neck and a wild crimson hair. In no time, all the bandits were left unconscious or dead and the whole place was on fire. She approached me slowly and after gathering all our belongings, grabbed me by the waist and took flight. 'We have to get out, Gin' were her only words. I still remember the intensity of that flight… I was worried about the girl, extremely tired from the fight, amazed by this creature… and I completely forgot she had just said my name. As soon as we landed, I started asking for the girl. She said nothing, just locked her eyes with mine and smirked. The creature shined with a dark red glow and when the light faded, the girl was just there."

Gin turned his face again to the sky before continuing.

"We spent the rest of the night talking. She told me all her story… how her parents died when she was too young to remember, how she had always lived alone because people always got terrified when they saw her changing body… She had no idea why she had this other self, but she was proud of it. At that time, neither of us had any idea about hollows, so we didn't really know what she was. That's probably the reason why it worked out between us…"

"I started my training as a shinigami, and they lived close, so I spent all my free time with them. As soon as I realized she was a hollow, I made sure to not get friendly enough with anybody in the academy. I was pretty sure than if anybody found her, she would be killed. We used extreme precautions. I forced myself to learn high level kido, so we had a barrier placed around her house every time she was in hollow form. I spent most of my free time there either fighting with the hollow, who was incredible strong…or teaching kido to the girl, who had no interest at all in fighting skills… I had this life for more than 10 years… it was the happiest time of my life."

"Of course, it couldn't last. I finished my training and started working, so every day I had less and less free time. On the other hand, there were rumors about some strange hollow reiatsu nearby. Some patrols started searching the area and I knew it was just a matter of time before they found her. So, we decided to move on. She hated shinigami. They had always been the reason of her hiding, the hunters of his nightmares… the only way out for her was the living world. Unfortunately, they were closer than what I thought. We couldn't make it on time, and she was sentenced to death." Gin opened his eyes to look Ichigo in the face, his silver gaze shining with a sharp edge. "From that day on, I also hated most of the shinigami of Seireitei. They were the reason for my loneliness… but I decided that one day I would change that. So, I stuck with the only person able to shake the very core of Soul Society, who happened to be Aizen with his crazy plans."

Ichigo had been listening carefully, his mind more confused than before. Was Gin confessing than he had been living with a girl who coexisted with an inner hollow? Was he really suggesting that he should try to 'get along' with his own hollow? With that crazy bastard, who craves for a fight, for blood… who was just a poisonous mixture of boiling emotions…

His voice barely contained the contradictory emotions stirring in his mind. "Why are you telling me this, Gin?"

The former captain smiled tiredly.

"Because I don't like the idea of the vizards 'crushing' your hollow… and because you two together can achieve much more power than one alone. This is the kind of power Aizen has always been craving… the very same power he will never obtain, because it implies entrusting your body and soul to a hollow. Something that any shinigami would never dare to do."

Ichigo frowned. "Then why should I?"

"Because you are not just a shinigami… you are a human, so I expect you to be more… 'open minded' in that field. In fact, I didn't expect that you believed me without any proof… I guess you also have lots of questions but I'm not gonna give you any answers right now." Gins smirked and opened his eyes to meet Ichigo's puzzled stare. "I wanna meet your hollow first, Kurosaki."

Ichigo frowned again. Just a few hours ago Shinji had asked the same… and he had ended up badly bruised trying to refuse… with no success at all. The hollow had showed up anyway and attacked Hiyori… They had managed to reduce him easily, but it was still scary… On the other hand, Ichigo could feel the hollow, trying to come out again… However something was odd this time. Back there, he felt the hollow's craving for a battle but now… it felt something different… a mixture of thrill and excitement?

"You also want to see his power?" Ichigo's frown deepened… he didn't know what to do. He was still exhausted from his previous fight with the vizards, so he couldn't do a thing against the former captain… and to make everything even worse, Grimmjow was still there, waiting…

Gin chuckled. "I already know he's powerful. I just want to talk a little with him."

Ichigo's eyes opened in surprise. "He ain't gonna talk."

His heart was speeding up. He couldn't imagine a way out of this situation. His fears increased as Gin casted another kido spell to reinforce the barrier.

"We will see… are you gonna do it easily or must we convince you?" Gin was still sitting in a non-threatening way… although Ichigo could see that he was extremely dangerous. At his other side, Grimmjow's eyes widened, glowing with anticipation…

Ichigo was sure than the arrancar was absolutely fine with the idea of beating him down until the hollow surfaced. He tried to calm down a little… he was perfectly aware than he had run out of options… and fighting was pointless…

"How do I know it's not a trap to take me to Hueco Mundo?"

Gin just chucked softly. "C'mon, Kurosaki. You know we could have done that from the very beginning, don't you?"

Ichigo sighed… they could have kidnapped or killed him long ago. So, he hoped it wasn't going to be the worst decision of his life. He stood up and walked a few steps away.

"I hope you know what you’re doing, Gin."

"I do know, Ichigo. You are not gonna regret it."

Something in Gin's voice relaxed him somehow… He closed his eyes and allowed the hollow to slowly take control over his body. It was the first time he allowed himself to lose it willingly… and surprisingly it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be…

"Maa, maa… Nice to finally meet you," Gin smirked, standing up and started approaching the pale version of the young shinigami.

This time, Ichigo had allowed him to be fully in control, not like the other times, when he barely managed to overpower him for a brief moment. As this time there was no presence of Ichigo, his true form was revealed, a white copy of his shinigami self. The yellow and black eyes moved from Grimmjow to Gin, who had just talked. The hollow smiled madly, a grin rivaling Grimmjow's, before talking cheerfully with the shinigami.

"So, you're the one who convinced that stubborn bastard. He never let me out… you must be pretty persuasive, shinigami." He coked an eyebrow and moved a few steps toward the old man. "And pretty bold to think you can use me".

Gin smirked back to the hollow, without the slightest worry for his closeness. "I don't expect your help for free".

The golden eyes never left the silver ones, but his eerie voice had a new edge, almost an amusing tone. "And what are you offering?"

"Full control of this body and some nice battles … is that enough to start?"

The hollow got closer to Gin. They were just inches apart, never breaking eye's contact. Both had now a teasing smile.

"It depends on the battles."

Gin chucked and tilted his head in the direction where the arrancar was still waiting. "You can have a taste right now… I have the perfect partner for you."

The hollow turned to face Grimmjow, who was finally approaching them with a fierce sneer.  
"Just one condition," Gin added, moving aside to give room for the arrancar, "my barrier is not strong enough for you two to fight with released bodies, so keep your actual forms and avoid ceros."

Grimmjow's stretched his arm over his head, trying to loosen up from the long waiting. "No problem, Gin. I don't need to release to beat this kid's hollow."

"So confident, arrancar… I thought it was me who put that scar on your chest…" The mocking tone easily matching the espada's teasing one, while his body adopted a fighting stance instinctively.

"Show me your power, hollow!" Grimmjow attacked him, the hollow easily avoiding his fist and continuing to tease him playfully.

"Make me."

Gin walked away and sat down by an old cherry tree to observe the hollow's fight. In no time both had their clothes completely ruined and were covered in blood. To anybody, it may look like a deathly fight of two mortal enemies, but Gin knew better. He had fought countless times with hollows and easily noticed the permanent grin in both faces, the continuous teasing and cursing…

Grimmjow had recently lost an arm, and wasn't used to fighting without it. Ichigo's hollow was tired from the earlier fight with the vizards. So, in less than half an hour, both were panting exhausted. Gin decided to end the fight there, leaving them craving for more.

"Never asked your name, hollow." The shinigami approached the drained hollows and made a sign for Grimmjow to stop.

Ichigo's white nemesis was grinning widely, despite the many wounds that covered his body. "I don't really have a name… but you can call me Shirosaki."

"So, do we have a deal, Shirosaki?" Gin smiled enigmatically, his face unreadable.

"Maybe... What do you want me to do, shinigami?" Shiro was reluctant to accept so easily, although he was fully aware that this was his only chance for a different relation with Ichigo other than what the vizards had offered.

Gin opened his eyes and smirked to the hollow. He knew he had already won.

"When the war is over, I'm gonna ask you a favor. But currently, we need to make sure that the vizards fail with Ichigo's training, don't you think?"

The hollow chuckled. "That's gonna be easy. See ya, Gin."

Without any more warnings, the hollow disappeared in a blur of black reiatsu, giving the body back to Ichigo.

The young shinigami was speechless. He had just had the weirdest experience of his life. He had expected the hollow to go berserk the moment he controlled his body, as he had always seen him behave… but not only did he not attack them but he also talked with Gin. And what was beyond Ichigo's comprehension, both hollows had been fighting with extreme care for Gin's barrier. Not only did Grimmjow not release to his true form, but they also hadn't fired any cero or getsuga…

And those feelings… Ichigo had always been fighting to regain control of his body any time the hollow had managed to take over. This time he was just watching and feeling. Shirosaki glowing with happiness. There were no worries, no wandering, no regrets… just the thrill for the battle, the constant teasing, the joy of the good hits, the pain of the blows received, and the smell of blood… Ichigo had never felt any of this with such intensity… and it was at least rather disturbing…  
Gin took a seat close to the shinigami and invited Ichigo to join him. "I think I can now answer your questions."

Ichigo dropped down close to the older shinigami. He was so overwhelmed that he didn't know what he could say… "Why are you doing this, Gin?"

The former captain smiled sadly. "You remind me of her so much… Then, I was a green boy that couldn't do anything to save her life, but I can now." His face grew serious to add, "and everything would be much easier for me with your help, Kurosaki."

Gin's face was unreadable again… Ichigo wasn't sure what he meant by 'his help', but he was too tired to dwell on matter right now. Instead, he remembered something the old man had told him. "Are you sure that I would be more powerful than a vizard? Those guys are really strong…"

Gin chuckled. "I was the strongest shinigami in the academy and I never won when they fought together. Her shinigami body wasn't trained and her hollow's powers were similar to mine… but when they joined forces I really think they were almost as strong as a captain. And she was 20 years old."

Ichigo remained silent… He had spent the last few weeks trying to suppress his hollow… everybody had been telling him he would be swallowed by him… even the vizards… and they seemed to have experience enough in the field…

Gin stood up and cleaned the dust from his white uniform. "You need time to swallow everything down. We'll be here tomorrow at nightfall. Come again and we can have a little more fun."

Turning around, Gin walked slowly away from Ichigo, while Grimmjow joined him and opened a Garganta. "Next time I'm gonna kick your ass, shinigami."

Grimmjow's words echoed in the air as Ichigo turned to walk home. This was one of the weirdest days of his life… and it didn't seem it would be the last. 

******************

Ichigo spent the next day working in Hiyori's walking machine. He was getting tired of this training, if it could be called training at all… After lunch break, he managed to be alone with Shinji for a while. Weighing his words carefully, Ichigo tried to test Gin's theories about hollows…

"What you told me about the hollow… is it… there is… is this the only option? I mean, are you sure that the hollow will try to control me?"

Shinji frowned at him. "I was absolutely serious about this. There is no coming back. Once it has started, he will grow stronger. And the stronger he grows, the harder it will be to control… until eventually he will destroy you. You already knew that. Why are you asking it now?"

Ichigo realized he was walking on a dangerous line. "Because… I think that he probably is strong enough to try to overpower me… so why has he not tried except on the battlefield?"

"I don't know Ichigo, but you won't last if it keeps going on. It's a hollow, you cannot expect him to stop if you don't make him stop." The vizards tone left no room for discussion.

Ichigo refused to give up and made a last attempt before dropping the matter. "Have you ever talked with your…"

"With my hollow?" Shinji's face frowned with rage. Ichigo didn't miss the bitterness coming from the vizard's voice. "Why the hell should I be talking with him? There's no point in talking with a hollow. I went through hell and fought him long enough to settle everything. After that, I was peaceful enough. What the fuck are you thinking? You think it's like dealing with your zanpakuto? We are talking about a hollow. And a damn powerful one!"

"I know, I know! I was just guessing… " Ichigo decided to definitely drop the subject now, as they were falling into a slippery subject. Instead, he tried to lighten the mood "…because with that stupid training I'm not going anywhere!"

Shinji made an unreadable face for a moment but quickly followed Ichigo's wailing. "Quit complaining and start working! Hiyori is gonna kill us!"

*****************

Ichigo didn't know exactly why… but by sunset he was already in the park. His hollow had been extremely calm today, however since a few hours ago, he started to feel him again. However, this time instead of the continuous threatening presence, he just felt excitation and he wasn't sure if it only came from the hollow.

After half an hour of waiting, he started to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea… He was alone, waiting for two of his enemies… both probably more powerful than him… And what for? To release his hollow again? Was that a wise thing to do? What would Shinji say about all of this? Maybe he should just explain everything to… to whom? He hadn't told anybody about their meeting yesterday, and he didn't know exactly why… maybe he just wanted to ask Gin a lot of questions that had been forming in his mind since yesterday…. Or maybe he wanted to feel that again….

Suddenly, a Garganta opened and the teal-haired arrancar appeared. He had come alone, and Ichigo immediately adopted a defensive stand at this sight.

"Where is Gin?" Ichigo's eyes narrowed, his energy barely contained at the sudden appearance of the arrancar, thinking about the more than possible betrayal on Gin's part.

"Busy. Aizen had some issues with the shinigami. We are gonna play alone." Grimmjow took something from his pocket and threw them to Ichigo.

He barely caught the two wristbands and looked puzzled to the arrancar. Some of the tension had left his body as Grimmjow had made no move to attack him so far. "What the fuck are those for?"

"Reiatsu suppressors. I can't place that barrier, so if we're gonna fight, we need to use these." He cocked an eyebrow to smirk at the young shinigami. "Or do you prefer all your friends showing up?" Grimmjow took another one with his mouth and struggled with his arm until he managed to lock it in his wrist, his already suppressed reiatsu now completely sealed.  
"I could kill you now, Grimmjow..." Ichigo teased the arrancar, while wondering about the stupidity of placing a reiatsu suppressor on himself... in front of an espada.

"Don't be stupid. It can be removed immediately. They are used for training, not for prisoners... Well, are you gonna put them on or what? I haven't come here to chat with a fussy shinigami."  
"Shut up, dumbass. And why the hell do I have two? One is not enough?"

"You are slower than what I thought..." Grimmjow grinned at the frown on Ichigo's face. "One suppress shinigami's powers, the other is for the hollow's."

"Whatever, I have just come here to ask Gin some questions, not to fight you. So, this is pointless..."

Grimmjow's thin patience was quickly running out. "Don't fool with me, shinigami! Put those on and let your hollow out."

Much to his distress, Ichigo realized that he did want to spar with the arrancar. He was painfully aware it was one of the stupidest things he had done in his life. However, it was also true that if he hadn't been so reckless in the past, he would have never obtained his shinigami powers. Neither the first time from Rukia, nor the second with Urahara's help.

Ichigo sighed and hoped for a second time than these weren't the worst decisions of his life. He put both wristbands on his wrists and immediately felt drained. It will be hard to fight in these conditions... it was like fighting with his human body. But on the other hand, he probably was more used to this kind of fight than the arrancar...

Ichigo couldn't skip the chance to play a little. "If you wanna fight him, beat me first, asshole."  
"It will be a pleasure, shinigami." Grinning maniacally he threw himself at Ichigo, who easily avoided the first punch and managed to connect a good kick to the arrancar's ribs. The young shinigami barely held in a curse as he realized that the hierro skin was going to be a damn problem. He had completely forgotten about it...

"Afraid, shinigami? You can't break my skin with your pussy hits."

Still cursing slightly, Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu. "Then I will have to slice you with my zanpakuto, arrancar."

Both jumped again. The rhythmic impacts of Ichigo's sword clashing with Grimmjow's arm were the only audible sounds in the calm of Karakura Park. Less than 10 minutes later, Grimmjow had already managed to catch Ichigo, Zangetsu thrown out of range. The arrancar had him pinned to a tree, his hand clenched around his throat. Ichigo was panting, nearly exhausted, his eyes locked on Grimmjow's grinning face.

"Let him out, Kurosaki. You've lost."

The grip on his neck tightened, threatening to choke him. Ichigo weighed the situation. His mind was spiraling out of control. His brain could feel the danger of his current situation – he was nearly being choked at the hands of an espada – but he can also witness the oddity of the fact that this very same time the espada hadn't harmed him at all. Not yet. They had been fighting like hell, but neither of them had really tried to kill the other. It would have been really easy for both to remove the wristbands and just kill the opponent, but neither of them had done it so far... and the worst part was his hollow's mood... he had not interfered in the fight as he used to do, and what really scared the hell out of Ichigo was the emotions he was emitting. Instead of the dark menace he used to feel, there was just a burst of anticipation at the sight of a good battle... and Ichigo found himself dwelling in that feeling... he almost wanted to see how his hollow would fight... wanted to see what he was able to...

But he wasn't going to release him only because Grimmjow told him to do so. Ichigo's knee impacted with all his remaining strength with the arrancar's groin, surprising him and managing to get free. The shinigami hit him again and unbalanced the arrancar enough to throw him down, Grimmjow's face buried in the ground. Ichigo straddled his back and twisted painfully his only arm on his back.

The teal-haired arrancar was currently laughing loud at the shinigami's outburst. The kid had really surprised him. Not many people had the guts to attack him with such a dirty move and much less dared to straddle him.

Ichigo was panting hard, his eyes slightly unfocussed. "I'm letting him out, but not because you forced me to do so."

Grimmjow turned his head to look at the boy "Are you gonna release my arm or I need to beat the shit out of you, shinigami?"

Ichigo smirked, his voice suddenly rough and thick. "I was planning on giving him some advantage…"

Grimmjow's eyes widened as he realized too late what the shinigami was going to do. Before he could get free from Ichigo's hands, the grip tightened as the hollow's eerie voice teased him purring at his back.

"I'm already here, arrancar…" the golden eyes shined madly as he licked his lips, "…and you are in a fucking wonderful position…" Shiro leaned down to whisper in Grimmjow's ear, "seems that Ichigo already know my tastes…"

Shirosaki husky voice sent a chill down the arrancar spine. It brought promises of pain and lust… which made Grimmjow's blood boil with excitement.

***************

That night Ichigo barely slept. His mind was completely fucked up. His hollow and Grimmjow had been fighting for almost one hour, until both were exhausted. During the whole battle, they had been cursing, bitching, swearing and teasing each other… and both had enjoyed every minute of it.

Grimmjow departed with the promise of bringing Gin the next day, and as soon as the Garganta closed, Shiro gave the body back to Ichigo without any second thought. He had walked home and was now lying in his bed, his body exhausted but unable to sleep at all…

This way was apparently much more effective than the vizard's, but he was still reluctant to trust Gin so easily. Obviously the vizards have had a higher experience on this matter than the traitor shinigami, and Ichigo didn't know him well enough to discard Shinji's help. However, even he could tell that he won't be able to train with both sides without letting one of them know the existence of the other, unless he found a way to restore his reiatsu and erase the scars from his battered body. His head was aching when finally the tiredness won and he fell into a deep sleep.

The next day was more of the same. The walking machine, Hiyori's bitching, Ichigo's complaining… The young shinigami didn't miss the weird stares that Shinji gave to his bruised face, but the vizard didn't ask; for which Ichigo was extremely grateful as he had no possible explanation.

Later in the evening, he met Gin again. Ichigo had come up with so many questions these last two days… but now he didn't even know where to start. They sat down under one of the old cherry-trees in the park in silence until finally Gin broke the silence.

"So, how's it going with Shirosaki? Is he behaving or has he given you many troubles?"

Ichigo blinked. Shirosaki. His hollow's name. He remembered the hollow telling Gin… He had completely forgotten. He sighed and let his gaze drift before talking… putting all his fears into words for the very first time.

"Everybody tells me that as the hollow's power increases, it will be more difficult to control, and when he overpowers me, he will take full control of my body…" He lowered his gaze as he finished in almost whisper. "He was always there, a dark menacing presence… It had only grown stronger since Byakuya's fight."

Gin waited until Ichigo's voice died. His unreadable smile was still present in his face. "Has it been the same these last two days?"

Ichigo turned to look at the shinigami. "No. It's been completely different. The threatening feeling is not there… and I have even forgotten about him a couple of times… That's the reason I'm still here." Ichigo's gaze drifted to the ground while his voice weakened."But I don't know how long it will last. I don't want this to be the calm before the storm…"

Gin tilted his head to watch him carefully. "What makes you think it will be a storm?"

Ichigo looked unsure again. "I guess… when he completely overpowered me…"

Gin finally opened his eyes to stare at the young man, his smile gone and his expression slightly scary. "You really think you are more powerful than him? Who are you trying to fool, kid? You do know he overpowered you long ago."

Ichigo frowned. This couldn't be possible. He has always managed to keep him from surfacing… except when he was completely beaten during Byakuya's fight. So, it meant he was the strongest, didn’t it? Of course, the hollow cut Byakuya so easily… he was almost no match to him. And these last fights with Grimmjow… they fought in rather equal grounds, when Ichigo had completely lost his first battle with the arrancar… Not to mention the way he crushed the terrified Hiyori…

However, the fact that he had his hollow mostly under control was the only thing that kept him away for true despair and hopelessness. "If it was true, why hasn't he taken my body yet?"

Gin chucked, mildly amused and let his features relax, before pressing the matter carefully. 

"Why should he?"

Ichigo opened his mouth but he didn't know what to say… So far, he had thought that obviously the hollow must have wanted to control him… what could he have been wanting if he didn’t?

Gin kept talking, as Ichigo tried to listen… But he was only getting more and more confused.

"You don't just share a body; you also share a soul. He has all your feelings and emotions, but no restraints at all. This is what a hollow soul is… A hollow just does what he wants, no second thoughts, no restraints and no regrets. You just need to accept him as he is, as the wild part of your soul, and both of you will be invincible." The older shinigami opened his eyes, his silver gaze piercing through Ichigo's resolve. "C'mon Kurosaki, you know I'm right. You have already felt it. You should be talking with him instead of being here…"

Ichigo looked at Gin with an almost defeated expression. He didn't know what to think… much less what to do… "And how the hell I'm supposed to be talking with him?"

The old shinigami stood up and started walking away. "Just go find him in your inner world."

Ichigo jumped on his feet but didn't attempt to follow him. "But I don't know how to get there!"

Gin just waved to him without turning around. "Then it's about time for you to learn, shinigami."

Half an hour later, Ichigo sat legs crossed on his bed, breathing deep and calm… Through meditation, any shinigami was able to gain access to his inner world… any shinigami but him.  
He tried until exhaustion won again and the dawn found him snoring loudly in his room.


	3. Memories part II

Chapter 3. Memories. Part II.

Karakura town. Almost 1 month before the war.

Shirosaki was seated on a wall of his reversed inner world. His voice sounded mildly amused besides the deep frown on his scary face. "Yo… long time no see… Ichigo."

Ichigo was watching him suspiciously. Shinji had forced him into his inner world, supposedly to 'crush his hollow'. Unfortunately, he still had no clue about how to sort out this situation.

Giving him no time to make up his mind, Shiro stood and stepped closer, his voice a weird mixture of threat and tease. "Why have you come here? Are you gonna fight me?"

Ichigo held his stare while he moved closer. He was still hesitating about betraying the vizards' confidence. He wondered for the umpteenth time if it was wise to trust Gin more than Shinji… So, he didn't answer. Because he didn't have any answer. Not yet.

Shiro could read all these thoughts easily from Ichigo's worried frown, but he wasn't willing to wait for his indecisiveness to be settled. Smirking, he unsheathed his white Zangetsu and threw himself at the shinigami. Ichigo could barely stop the attack, raising his zanpakuto at the last moment, using his left arm to hold the blade in place.

"Damn you…" Ichigo hadn't been expecting the attack, as they weren't supposed to fight. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Your friends expect a bloody fight… and your outer body reflects it, so we better fight if you want them to believe you have 'crushed' me." He took a step backwards and raised Zangetsu to let it rest over his shoulders. He tilted his head with a mocking grin. "It could even be an interesting spar."

Ichigo quickly realized that the hollow was right. Shinji and the rest of the vizards must be carefully watching him, and if he was supposed to be in a deathly fight, his body must be reflecting it somehow. Well, he still needed some answers, so meanwhile they could play a little.

This time, it was Ichigo who launched himself at Shiro, charging Shiro with blow after blow while asking. "So, tell me your conditions. What do you want from me in order for you to lend me your power?"

Shiro was easily blocking all his assaults, but made no move to counterattack. He had a wide grin on his face and his voice sounded highly amused this time. "Just let me out from time to time." He made a sudden move to avoid the shinigami's sword and caught his wrist, twisting it painfully until Ichigo almost dropped his zanpakuto. He lowered his voice and approached the stunned shinigami. "I just want to live… and I'm extremely easy to please, Ichigo." He said the last part purring into Ichigo's neck.

The shinigami twisted and jumped backwards, his neck bristly at Shiro's unexpected words. This was not what he had expected… although he suddenly remembered the first time he met Kon… there was something in Shiro’s eyes that had also shined in the mod soul. Was it the fear to disappear? To die? The will to live?

However, Ichigo wasn't so naïve to think that he could gain Shiro's power without paying a price. He raised his sword again and tried to find out his terms by taking a different approach.

"Why would you refuse to try to control my body instead?"

Shiro snorted. "Hmm, I'm just being practical. I don't want half soul society and your new friends rushing at my heels trying to kill me. This way, I can use your body without their interference… or yours." When Ichigo's eyes widen, Shiro clarified. "A constant fight for dominance can be exhausting. I prefer to focus my energy in other matters."

Ichigo frowned suspiciously. "Like what?"

Shiro just laugh. "Please… you should know me better by now… you know what I like."

He tried with the first thing that crossed his mind. "Fighting Grimmjow?"

The hollow tilted his head in what looked like a cocky way and grinned enigmatically. "That's certainly a bloody pleasure. You will find out others soon enough… So, are you gonna trust me?"

Ichigo was still reluctant to give in so easily. He felt like he was still missing something… "And how do I know you are not going to hurt any of my friends?"

Shiro raised his sword and Ichigo adopted a defensive stance almost instinctively. The hollow laughed at the reaction. "You don't know. That's what trust means."

Ichigo was getting tired of riddles… he had never been much patient with talking, and he realized he wasn't getting any useful information from Shiro. He decided to take a more direct approach and throw himself to the hollow, both Zangetsu clashing in the air. Ichigo's voice was a hiss, his anger hardly contained when a memory came to his mind. "You let Inoue get hurt the first time the arrancars appeared."

Shiro's grin disappeared. His voice lowered. "Yeah, I went too far… but I thought that you really would take the bait that time." Ichigo barely noticed something flicker in the golden eyes, before they shined brightly again, his voice amplifying with a fierce edge. "Too bad you were so fucking stubborn!"

He fired a Getsuga Tensho that sent Ichigo flying to crash into the next building.

Ichigo's rage unleashed now free from the hollow's outburst. He rushed out of the crushed building yelling and charging again. "And what the fuck was I supposed to do?"

Shiro easily blocked all his blows, his level voice increasing to match Ichigo's "You were supposed to come here! If there's a problem in your inner world, the most logical thing is to come here to solve it! I was just calling you!" His blocking movements were slowly turning into charging ones, forcing Ichigo back step by step. By the time he shouted his last complaint, Ichigo's back was pressed against a concrete wall. "What stupid shinigami would not go to his inner world to look for the source of the problem?!"

Instead of worrying about his current situation, Ichigo's anger was turning into untamed wrath, hurt by the hollow's insults to his shinigami abilities. "Calling?! Inoue was badly hurt! And you just wanted to talk?!"

The young shinigami tried to fire a Getsuga but Shiro had gripped the hilt of Ichigo's sword and pinned it above his head against the wall. He raised his other hand until the white blade brushed against Ichigo's chin, but the shinigami made no move to stop him. The golden eyes were staring into Ichigo's, and the shinigami realized that the eerie black eyes looked more hurt than angry.

Before Ichigo could register that feeling any further, Shiro spoke again, his voice low and thick.

"And how the hell was I supposed to drag you here?" He uncoiled a black strip of his dark reiatsu and let it move through his blade until it hovered slightly over Ichigo's skin. "I tried with slow touches with my reiatsu, which you quickly suppressed. I tried to take part in your first fight with Grimmjow, but you kept me down." His blade pressed threatening into Ichigo's flesh, Shiro's eerie voice rising again. "How many more signals do you need? Why the fuck don't you never come?!"

Ichigo was painfully aware that Shiro was really hurt by the fact that he had never realized his attempts of dragging him here. He tried to justify himself, but it sounded like a lame excuse, even at his own ears. "I didn't know what you wanted! I thought you were trying to control my body!"

Shiro sighed sadly and release his grip. He took a step backwards but didn't lower his sword. "I could have controlled it whenever the fuck I wanted. Why can't you just admit I'm stronger than you?"

Ichigo knew he was right. He had been thinking a lot these last days, and there were a lot of things he didn't know, but he was certain about this. His hollow was indeed stronger than him. Some unspoken understanding flowed between them, and the tension left as fast as it had come. Ichigo tilted his head smirking.

"You wish you were stronger!" He jumped to the side, a few feet away from the hollow and adopted a familiar stance, holding Zangetsu in front of him and bracing the armed arm with his left one. His smirk faltered when he saw Shiro mimicking his movement, and watched incredulously as they evolved together into bankai mode.

Once the tension disappeared, Ichigo even enjoyed the fight. Shiro was clearly faster and stronger, but the young shinigami managed to hold his pace and his strikes even reached the hollow a few times.

After a while, both were panting heavily. Ichigo was secretly proud of himself because he wasn't the only one bleeding, but his energy was nearly drained by now. Shiro could feel it, and let him have a moment to catch his breath while he finally made his offer. He offered Ichigo the power to use the mask as the vizards expected, but only with the condition that Ichigo continued his training with the arrancar. When Ichigo agreed without much hesitation, Shiro's gaze hardened.

"Maybe you shouldn't agree so recklessly, Ichigo. You sure remember the promise I made to Gin… And I'm gonna kept it, no matter what."

Ichigo's frown deepened, but his smile remained. "If what Gin said is right, both of us are gonna give him whatever the hell he asks for."

Shiro grinned back and attack again, harder than before. Ichigo barely blocked the first blow when the hollow was on him again. He dodged the black Getsuga, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid the cero that came the next second. When he opened his eyes, he was trapped again between some ruined wall and Shiro's steel hard body.

The shinigami started to complain but the hollow hissed at his neck. "The vizards expected a bloody fight, and they are not gonna buy an easy fake." He pressed his forearm on Ichigo's throat, half choking him and leaned closer to whisper. "You better fight with all you've got if you hope to survive. If I accidentally kill you here, this body will be mine."

They resumed their fight, but this time Ichigo hardly managed to block Shiro's attacks. He was overmatched, and he knew it. It was just a matter of time before he left an opening for the hollow to strike, and with every clash of their Zanpakutos Ichigo found the rhythm harder to maintain. He tried a last attack and shot a getsuga, but Shiro rejected it barehanded and didn't miss the opportunity to break into Ichigo's defenses.

Ichigo never saw it coming, but he did feel the steel biting through skin and flesh. When he lowered his gaze, he saw the white Zangetsu stained with his crimson blood, bright rivulets reaching its hilt and blemishing Shiro's pale hand.

Ichigo was suddenly speechless. He hadn't really believed the hollow's threat, and now his own life was at the stake. He didn't know what to think, what to do… he just kept watching as the zanpakuto stabbed into his body, where Shiro had left it before taking a few steps backwards.

"What's with this face? Are you gonna freak out?" Shiro tilted his head and rested his left hand on his hip, while extending the naked right arm in front of him. "Why the fuck are you standing there motionless? You have two swords and I'm unarmed, what are you waiting for?" He lowered both arms and stared at the shinigami for a while. The next words snapped Ichigo out of his trance. "I thought you had more survival instinct in you, Ichigo… Are you really willing to die here and now?"

Something switched in Ichigo's face when his mind stopped thinking and his instincts took the lead. He pulled the sword from his belly and flipped it in the air, griping his hilt and jumping to Shiro's throat. Without a second thought, Ichigo stabbed both zanpakutos in the hollow's body, piercing through his iron skin.

Shiro grinned widely before punching Ichigo hard in the face, sending him flying backward to crash into the roof below. The shinigami looked startled as the hollow extracted both swords from his body and let himself fall to the roof a few feet in front of Ichigo. He approached him slowly, dragging one bloody Zangetsu in each hand, and fell on his knees by his side.

"You have really tried to kill me this time. You are one scary brat, Ichigo." He was panting heavily but there was still a slightly amused edge to his voice.

"I thought you were the one trying to kill me, asshole." Ichigo rolled onto his back and didn't even try to stand up. He was still bleeding hard and felt his consciousness starting to falter.

Shiro chucked. "I almost did."

"So, what's going to happen now?" Ichigo struggled to recline on his elbows to face Shiro, who was smirking at him widely besides all the blood that was now covering his pale body.

"Congratulations, you can play the vizard now. As far as your friends are concerned, you have killed me. You can now start the training for mastering my fucking awesome mask…"

***********

Inoue walked to Karakura park. She had finally made up her mind. These last days, she had noticed Ichigo's reiatsu disappearing for about one hour and appearing again as suddenly as it had been gone. During the day, his reiatsu was also somehow hidden with some kind of barrier, but this was different… it was as if he had been completely erased… She didn't know how to feel about it… the first time she was really scared, but after three days of it happening regularly she became more and more curious.

She couldn't feel anything right now, but every time the presence seemed to appear and disappear it was from somewhere in Karakura park, so she decided to have a look there.  
She walked randomly around the park, until she heard the barely audible sound of clashing swords. Slowing her steps, she approached the two figures fighting under the dim sunset light. She immediately recognized her friend, his orange hair and his giant sword unmistakable. He was fighting with a taller man, with electric blue hair and only one arm. No wait… she approached a little more… until she could clearly see the rest of the mask and the hollow hole in his abdomen… Was he one of Aizen's arrancars? She almost ran away to get some help but Ichigo's clear laugh froze her in place. He had just managed to hit the arrancar in the chin with the hilt of his sword and was laughing at the surprised face of his opponent.

"You really know some dirty tricks, shinigami," Grimmjow smirked; massaging his chin… the hit had been powerful enough to be painful besides his hierro.

"You have no idea," Ichigo was grinning openly "What's your problem, arrancar? Seems that every day it takes you longer to beat me… are you getting soft?" Ichigo kept teasing the espada, everyday feeling more comfortable with their cat and mouse playing.

Grimmjow's face changed suddenly, as he became aware of Inoue's presence. He turned to face her, Ichigo following his gaze to found his friend looking puzzled at them.

"Should I kill her?"

Ichigo jumped in front of the arrancar, who already had a predatory snarl in his face.

"Stop it, asshole. She's my friend. Touch her and I'm gonna kill you." Ichigo frowned as he faced Grimmjow, his smile gone and his eyes deadly serious.

Grimmjow chucked and turned around to drop down not far away. "In five minutes we are resuming the fight." He smirked evilly from the distance. He wasn't as worried as Ichigo and he couldn't pass the opportunity to lighten the mood, teasing the young man a little. "You better keep that deadly look on your face. I like those eyes, shinigami."

Ichigo paid him no further attention and ran to meet Inoue, not knowing how the hell he could explain this situation….

"Are you ok, Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue pressed, her face worried…

"Yeah… I was just training… I…." Ichigo was looking his feet, a hand massaging his hair nervously.

Inoue easily recognize the nervous embarrassment in Ichigo's gestures. "It's OK, Kurosaki. You don't have to explain anything. I came here because I was worried… if everything is fine, then I had better go…" She knew better than to press the subject, when Ichigo had his mind set on something, trying to change it was completely pointless.

Ichigo looked at her. She was blushing and looked almost ashamed… he realize he was being an asshole. Inoue was his best friend and she was cut it willing to help him… She deserved better than this… Suddenly, an idea switched on in his head. Inoue lived alone; she had no family to answer to for her actions. And she could help him with the double training. Not to mention she had already discovered his relation with the espada… and if she had been able to find him here, she most probably wouldn't have any problem finding the vizard's place either.

Smiling, he asked her softly, "…mm, Inoue… Could you help me with training?"

Inoue blinked. Was he really asking her for help? She felt the tension leaving her body as her gaze met Ichigo's. "What can I do?"

Ichigo chose his words carefully. He still didn't know how to explain his chaotic situation without worrying her unnecessarily. "Well… he is training me, but it's kind of a secret… he's one of Aizen's espadas, so nobody must know he is here…"

Inoue opened her eyes "Oh, and why is Aizen training you?"

He looked surprised at her. It was the most obvious reaction to his hurried explanation… "Aizen doesn't know… I guess he would be killed if Aizen found out…" Ichigo frowned. He had never thought about the consequences for the arrancar if they were found…

He dropped the subject, putting back these worries for a better time "The point is that it would be really helpful if you could heal me after these fights… when I train in the morning, I still have some wounds which are difficult to explain…"

"I will do it! You can come to my place when you finish. I can make something for dinner too." She was smiling happily. Ichigo shuddered as he remembered some of Inoue's dishes, but forced himself to smile back.

"That won't be necessary… but thanks Inoue."

"See you later!" she turned and waved to him as she trotted happily away.

Ichigo's gaze followed her until she disappeared from his sight. He turned to the arrancar, grinning widely as he also realized that Inoue could also help him recover before these evening meetings. So, the next time they fight, he will show that arrogant espada how he really fought at full power.

***********

Inoue had been waiting for Ichigo to come for almost one hour. She still couldn't feel his presence at all, which made her feel extremely uneasy. She was checking the dinner for the third time in the last ten minutes when the doorbell rang. She rushed to the door, and opened it to find a bruised Ichigo barely standing, one arm resting on the door frame.  
She helped him inside and started healing him as soon as they reached the couch. Biting her lips, she swallowed her curiosity and didn't ask him a single question. By the time Ichigo was completely recovered, he was sound asleep. Inoue didn't bother to wake him up, just put a blanket over him and moved to the kitchen to have a lonely dinner. She felt exhausted, as the healing process drained her energy more than she let people know.

When the alarm clock rang next morning, Ichigo wasn't there. She could felt his reiatsu highly dimmed but still present in his usual daily location. She sighed and hurried up, although she probably will be late to school. Again.

That evening, Ichigo arrived as bruised as the night before. This time, however, he managed to remain awake and both had a quiet dinner. Inoue didn't ask any questions; just spent the meal chatting cheerfully about silly things, which Ichigo was grateful for. When they finished, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't in any hurry to go away… Inoue suspected the motives, and offered him the guest room. Ichigo accepted after Inoue swore for the umpteenth time that it wouldn't be any nuisance, and it would even make her feel less lonely.

Finally, Ichigo decided to leave his human body with Kon during the training and moved to stay at Inoue's home. He also decided to keep the wristbands on in order to make himself invisible to the rest of the world, at least until he was able to explain everything to his friends. Swallowing his pride, Ichigo finally brought himself to ask his friend to heal him between trainings, which resulted in a clear improvement of his fighting level.

The rest of the days were almost the same. She got up alone, spent the days in the school and the nights with Ichigo. She was slowly getting better with the healing process; everyday able to do it faster and getting less tired, which made her secretly proud. She also enjoyed the dinners. She tried to keep her cheerful mood, as Ichigo seemed to relax in it. Every night, they spent more time after dinner, drinking tea and talking about school, their friends…

But after almost a week, Ichigo had explained nothing to her about what he was doing. She wanted to help him, but had no clue about how to approach him. Every time he thought she didn't realize, Ichigo frowned, and had a depressed look on his face. He looked like he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Inoue needed to make him trust her, as she was the only person from the Living World Ichigo was in contact with at the moment, but she was also afraid to lose him if she pressed the subject too much. On the other hand, it was rather hypocritical on her part to want Ichigo trusting her when she hadn't trusted him… She hadn't talked to him about anything too personal nor had she told him about her other life….

***********

After one whole week of indecisions and doubts, Inoue decided to talk with her best friend. During the gym class, she was running with Tatsuki along the sports field, carefully avoiding the other students to speak openly.

"Stop Orihime, you MUST tell him!" Tatsuki was almost yelling at her.

"And how the fuck I'm supposed to do that?" She spat back.

Tatsuki just smirked, "You are cursing again, sweetie."

Inoue blushed and gave a quick look at the rest of the students, sighing when she was sure nobody had heard her.

"C'mon Hime, It can't be so difficult. He is your friend and that is not going to change." Tatsuki tried her best to offer as much reassurance as she could, although she knew that Inoue's worries were far beyond her reach.

"But what if he prefers the sweet, airheaded Inoue from school? What if he doesn't come back? What if I freak him out?" Inoue's voice was faintly cracking at the possibility of losing him.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes at her nervous partner. "Orihime! He is a shinigami! How are you supposed to freak HIM out?" She smirked at her, "Besides, the real Inoue is far more interesting."

She sighed and murmured to herself, "I should get him drunk."

Tatsuki chuckled at the change of the mood. "Maybe you both should be drunk."

It was Inoue's turn to smirk back. "I don't trust myself when I'm drunk."

"Well, maybe he doesn't care."

"Tatsuki!"

Inoue frowned at her friend faking her best angry face but didn't dismiss the idea completely. She hadn't had any success in waiting for Ichigo to approach her, so it was about time to take a step forward. Tonight, Ichigo was going to meet the real Inoue.

***********

They had been fighting for a week, with a clear improvement from both sides. Grimmjow had completely recovered his balance at fighting without one arm, and Ichigo had grown more confident in his sword abilities, improving his fighting skills instead of relying in his hardly controlled reiatsu.

Ichigo had also become more fearless around the espada. He was hardly worried about his life while training and instead he was actually enjoying these sparring sessions. If anything, he was enjoying them a bit too much, although he was pretty sure he had Shiro to blame for that.

His hollow was absolutely delighted with his fights with the arrancar. Ichigo had always been aware of the constant teasing between them, but lately it seemed to be slipping into something else. The teasing was slowly taking a sexual edge, more pronounced at the peak of the fight, when both were running high with adrenaline. Ichigo realized that the rush of the fight and the smell of the blood tended to heat up Shiro's mind as well as his body, and resulted in the heating of Ichigo's mind as well… Since he noticed this effect, he had been painfully aware that his body was also reacting in a similar way every time he had the arrancar too close… And it was not just a little excitement, but a whole lot more fucked up feelings. However, what worried him the most was the fact that both hollows seemed perfectly fine with it, neither of them giving a shit that sometimes they ended the fight with a more than obvious hard on.

Today, it was one of those days.

"I got you, hollow." Grimmjow was straddling Shiro, both were panting, sweating and bleeding. The arrancar had pinned both hollow's wrist upon his head, and their faces almost touched as he spoke.

"You wish, arrancar." Shirosaki turned his face slightly to approach Grimmjow's neck. The arrancar was still bleeding from one of the last deep cuts from Zangetsu and Shiro decided to push a little. With a lustful smirk, he bit Grimmjow's wound; the salty and metallic liquid filled his mouth and heated his mind.

The arrancar grinned maniacally at the golden eyed demon. He didn't expect the hollow to be this bold, but he definitely wasn’t complaining. Both could play that game.

"You shouldn't be teasing me…" Grimmjow lean down to whisper huskily into Shiro's neck "…I might bite you back."

The hollow chuckled, more than pleased to see that the espada fell so easily into the game. "Keep dreaming." Shirosaki used all his remaining forces to throw the arrancar away, reversing positions and securely pinning Grimmjow's arm over his head.

The espada fell on his back, openly laughing as one of Shiro's hands clenched on his throat. "I really like this fight in you, hollow, but it seems that you energy is over now." The grip on Grimmjow's neck tightened, while the arrancar keep smirking. "You have lost, Shiro."

The hollow smirked back, golden eyes staring blue ones. "You won't be so lucky someday, espada." His grin widen as he bent closer to the arrancar. "I'm gonna give you a present for your victory…" He licked his lips, smirking at the curious glace from the espada's eyes. His voice lowered to whisper huskily. "What about a hot shinigami riding you?"

Before Grimmjow could register the last words, the familiar reiatsu flash brought Ichigo back, his nose inches away from Grimmjow's; his hand still chocking him. Ichigo smirked.  
He had been aware of the whole fight, getting more used to the constant teasing between both hollows. Besides his worries, he couldn't ignore the fact that he did enjoy their sparring sessions. It had been highly disturbing the first times, and he wasn't completely relaxed now either, but when he refrained from second thoughts, it was easy to fall into the game.

"I could have never imagined that this would be happen, Grimmjow." Ichigo felt himself teasing the arrancar, pushing his luck as he didn't release his arm nor his neck… and what was worst, their faces were still a few inches apart, none of them breaking eye contact.

Grimmjow finally laughed. With a fast movement, he released his arm and punched Ichigo in the face, sending him backwards. Giving him no time to recover, the teal-haired arrancar grabbed Ichigo's neck and bring him closer, his voice low and husky in his ear.

"Don't play with fire if you are not ready to get burned, Kurosaki."

Ichigo shivered but couldn't answer, as the espada had already opened a Garganta when he released him and disappeared into the rip, waving his hand without a backward glance.

***********

That evening, she didn't cook. Ichigo was slightly surprised when she proposed to order a pizza, and was completely puzzled when she offered him a beer to drink while waiting for the meal.

Three beers later, the pizza was over and Inoue considered the mood relaxed enough for her plans.

Ichigo glanced at her… something was clearly different with her today… she looked more… 'alive'… but with three beers in his body he wasn't sure of anything. He thought that it was probably just his imagination…. Until she spoke.

"Would you like a few shots, Kurosaki-kun?" She was looking at him clearly amused.

"I didn't know you drank." His eyes followed her as she went to the kitchen, opened a couple of cabinets and came back with a bottle of sake and two small cups.

"Sometimes." She sat cross legged on the floor, in front of Ichigo, placed the cups on the small table and filled them. "I wanna tell you something Kurosaki-kun... But I don't know how to start." She took one of the cups and smirked slightly at Ichigo "Cheers."

Ichigo looked at her as she drank her cup empty and smirked back slightly amused before draining his own and placing the empty glass beside Inoue's. He had never seen his friend behave like this, but he couldn't say he didn't like it. The night seemed to get interesting… "You can start from the beginning… I'm not going anywhere."

Inoue grinned at the smirk on Ichigo's face. Maybe Tatsuki was right and it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all… "When I was four, I started to have nightmares…" Inoue had filled the cup again and looked at Ichigo, who was suddenly serious, waiting for the drama to start. She took the cup and toasted with an amused face. "Just kidding, it's not a long sad story."

She grinned at his surprised face and emptied her cup. "It's just that there is a part of my life which you have no idea about. Well, I guess you have imagined that since the death of my brother I have had to work, as I had no other family to sustain me. Then, in my job I found some good friends… and after all this time, I have a group of friends that you don't know… and with them I'm not exactly the sweet, bubbly and airhead I used to be at school… that girl died with my brother, but I have never been able to bring myself to change that image at school…" Her voice faded slowly, as the memories of her brother's 'second death' filled her mind.

Ichigo noticed the darkening in her eyes, and found himself remembering this very awful night. "You don't need to explain anything, Inoue."

"No, no… I want you to know…" She quickly removed one salty drop from her cheek and looked at him again, her face smiling faintly. "Because Tatsuki is the only one who truly knows everything about me and sometimes I just wished she wasn't the only one…" her smile opened to a true grin, as she verbalized her most feared words, "but they are kind of weird people and I didn't want you to freak out…."

Ichigo had been fighting the urge to interrupt her but he couldn't avoid laughing soundly at her last words.

"I'm a substitute shinigami, with a hollow in my head, training secretly during the days with a group of vizards and spending the evenings getting beat up by one of Aizen's espadas…how can I possibly be freaked out by a group of human people?"

Inoue grinned back at him. Ichigo probably hadn't meant to do it, but in a single sentence he had confessed more things than in the whole of the last week. She drank another cup before smiling openly to him, who was still trying to compose himself after the laughing outburst.

"They are older than us, some of them are at university, most of them work and they like to party…"

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow and tried to maintain the light mood. "And who doesn't?"

As he was clearly smirking at her, Inoue decided to tease him a little more, her voice almost flirtatious. "They like alcohol, music, drugs and sex."

Ichigo followed the game easily, the alcohol blurring his thoughts and relaxing his mind. He was enjoying the unexpected turn of conversation even as much as she was. "In that order?"

"It used to happen in that order… best dish served last." She stared at those chocolate eyes, shining brighter than they had been lately.

"Then, why I haven't met them yet?"

She showed her best grin before answering. "I didn't want you to freak out."

Ichigo burst in laugher again. He refilled the cups, noticing that half the bottle was already gone. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Why did you leave the party at Seireitei?"

Inoue almost chocked with the sake. Well… it was now or never… she took a deep breath and smiled enigmatically. "I didn't leave. I just continued the party in another place."  
He had thought Inoue had gone to sleep as she didn't use to drink and he hadn't seen her when he moved from the party… He smirked at her knowingly… all the people had been slowly disappearing from the common room to more private parties…

"Whose house?" His voice got lower.

"Rangiku's." Inoue bit her lip… she had never expected that moment to be so… exciting… she was really enjoying this teasing game with Ichigo…

Ichigo kept the thick tone. "You both alone?"

She grinned and looked carefully at his reaction as she slowly said the words she knew would trouble him. "Nope. Kira, Shuhei and a bottle of sake also came with us."  
Ichigo couldn't stop his mind from picturing all the possibilities laying under her words… his mouth spoke without him even registering it.

"So, with whom did you have a lovely sweet night?" As soon as the words left his mouth he realized he really didn't want to know… but it was too late to take it back.  
Inoue's smirk grew even bigger. "The four of us had a sexy wild night."

Ichigo grinned enigmatically. "What happens in a Seireitei party…"

Inoue finished the sentence for him "…remains in the party. So, it seems that you also had yours, Kurosaki…"

It was Ichigo's turn to smirk "Mine had less people… I was only with Rukia and Renji."

Inoue did laugh this time. "Why the hell did you never tell me?"

"I didn't want to freak out the sweet Inoue…"

She threw him a paper napkin and tried to speak seriously despite the giggling voice. "We have been rather stupid…"

Ichigo's voice took a serious tone as he tried to comfort her. "Yeah… you should have told me… It must have been hard for you at school…"

"Tatsuki helped a lot… But, you know…" Her intonation faded slightly and sounded sadder than she had intended. "You start doing something different with a different group of people besides your friends… and you are doing completely different kinds of things with each of them… and you fear than they won't like each other, but you can't choose because you like both… and after a while, you have a second life and everyday its harder to change it…"

Ichigo didn't say a word… He knew Inoue was speaking about herself, but it could be a perfect description of his current life… This is exactly how he was feeling at the moment, but he wasn't ready to talk with her…not yet…

Unfortunately, his mind knew that he won't ever be ready, so this wouldn't be the worst moment to start… "Inoue… you do know that that’s is exactly what I'm currently doing, don't you?"

Inoue looked back… his face was serious and the frown was there again… She chose her next words carefully. "Sort of... but I don't need you telling me anything you don’t want…"  
Ichigo leaned into the couch and closed his eyes. Slowly, he let the words fill the room. "Since my last fight with Byakuya, I had problems with my inner hollow. Every day, it was getting worse… until the day we were attacked. That day, Rukia almost died and I finally decided to swallow my pride and ask for help…" He opened his eyes to look at his friend. "So, I accepted the offer Shinji had made me in the school and I spent the days training with them. They also had hollow powers so I thought it would be the best option."

Ichigo took a deep breath before trying to explain how the arrancar fit into that scheme. "The same day I'd agreed to train with Shinji and the other vizards, I met… another guy, who told a completely different story. He had other ideas about how to deal with it, so he offered to help me, too." He paused, lost in some memory while Inoue waited patiently. After a moment, she saw something flicker in Ichigo's eyes, and he continued. "I think that both groups really did want to help and they are doing their best, but they hate each other. Grimmjow… the arrancar you saw me fighting with, knows that I spent the days with the vizards, and he was the one who gave me these reiatsu suppressors, so nobody notices what we are doing. I haven't said a word to anyone because it would be clear to everybody that the arrancar wanted something… and no one would trust him…"

"But you do." Inoue had moved to sit down close to him and was smiling warmly. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be fighting an espada with your power suppressed."

Ichigo nodded quietly. "Well… the truth is that his method... sort of works…"

"But you didn't want to risk everything on a single card." Inoue understood his choice, but could also see the distrust that this situation would arise from Soul Society.

"Exactly" Ichigo looked at his friend. "I couldn't be doing this without you, Inoue. And I didn't mean only for the healing…"

His tired voice reminded Inoue how hard it was to keep all the worries that one had to oneself while pretending everything is fine. She decided it was enough for today, so aimed for a change in the mood.

"I'm happy to know that at least I can help a little. You are too worried. Everything is going fine so far. So, you should focus on enjoying your training." She had an amused smile when she told him the last part.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You know, there is nothing to enjoy! I get beat up every day."

"C'mon. You love a good fight. And you obviously have fun… at least with the evening sparring!"

Inoue was grinning widely by now. "How is he?"

Ichigo opened his eyes in surprise. "Who? Grimmjow?"

When Inoue nodded silently, he thought for a moment… "He's a cocky arrogant prick."

She snorted faintly. "Then you two will get along pretty well…"

Before Ichigo could register her last words, she stretched tiredly and got up slowly. "I have school tomorrow, so I really should get some sleep…" She bent down and planted a kiss on Ichigo's hair, before leaving the room waving happily "Night Ichi!"

Ichigo smiled at the nickname. Life looked a little brighter after this strange night talk…. And for once in a long time he didn't feel so lonely anymore.

***********


	4. Urahara's Shop

**Soul Society. Few hours after Karakura’s war.**

 

Ichigo was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. After their brief incursion to Hueco Mundo, they had come back unnoticed, and now he was finally lying on the uncomfortable bed of his cell, trying to get some rest. Unfortunately, his head had other plans. He was highly relieved to know that Grimmjow was fine, so now his mind decided to focus on his current situation. He still had no idea about Gin’s plans, nor did he even know if he actually had any. The first time they met, Gin told him he wanted to change Soul Society; but this meant nothing right now. It didn’t explain why they were in prison. Neither gave him any clue about his business in Hueco Mundo. Since they had come back Gin had remained silent, lost in his inner world, and Ichigo didn’t dare disturb him.

Instead, he tried to sleep. He knew that he would need all his strength the next day, when he explained everything to his friends.They had gone to Hueco Mundo despite the prohibition from the Captain Commander, so they deserved to know the bitter truth.

Ichigo was so lost in his thoughts that hedidn’t notice any presence until Inoue’s soft voice filled their cell.

“Oi, Ichigo” She was smiling warmly.

Ichigo jumped to the cell bars, clinging there, carefully examining Inoue’s features. She looked truly exhausted; her clothes were still covered with dust and dry blood. She was still wearing the white outfit of Aizen’s men and Ichigo realized for the very first time that it actuallylooked great onher. He moved one hand to cup Inoue’s face, smiling when her hand covered his. They remained there for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Lots of questions filled their minds but neither of them seemed ready to start verbalizing them.

Beside them, things flowed easier. Matsumoto had opened a small door and stormed into the cell, almost hollering questions at the older shinigami. When Gin only answered with a silent smile, she started yelling, and quickly moved to physical aggression. Effortlessly, Gin caught Matsumoto’s wrists and forced her to stand still, watching intently as the tears ran down her cheeks. He moved one hand slowly up to her face and gently brushed his thumb over her cheek, removing the falling drops before releasing her. His other hand closed at the back of her neck, bringing her close and crushing their lips together. Matsumoto felt her anger leave as fast as it had come, embracing him and responding eagerly to the kiss.

Paying them no more attention, Inoue approached Ichigo and finally broke the silence.

“Do you want to talk?” It was a soft invitation, without pressure; like she always did. Ichigo knew that if he refused, she wouldn’t insist nor would try to push him. He loved her for that. But he couldn’t hide it anymore. It was past time for them to talk.

“Yeah. I have a lot to tell you.” His voice sounded tired, not with the usual physical tiredness he used to have after a battle, but something deeper, sadder.

“You don’t have to.” Closing the distance, Inoue buried her fingers in his orange hair, wild and messy, and played lazily with some locks.

“I want to.” Ichigo’s thumb caressed her lower lip. Slowly, he leaned down to kiss her. She moved her hand to the base of his skull as they deepened the kiss, unable to release their hold, fearing that everything would fall apart the moment they separated.

Matsumoto’s loud and clear laugh forced them to face reality again. Behind them, Gin had the vice-captain pinned to the wall and was whispering huskily into her neck.

“You are such a pervert, Gin” The former captain released her, smirking widely.

“It’s your fault, Ran.” He turned his back to her and moved to the younger couple. “And quit bitching, you loved it.”

“Arrogant prick.” Matsumoto moved faster, hitting Gin on the head while advancing toward him. “Well guys, we need to talk. The four of us.”

“Not only us.” The three people turned to look at Gin, who was still massaging his head where Matsumoto had reprimanded him. “Ran, can you still open a secure senkaimon?”

“Where to?” She cocked her head to look at him, curious to know what the shinigami had in mind.

Gin just smiled enigmatically. “Urahara’s shop. He has seen enough to make out most of the plot, so we can just take a direct approach.”

Ichigo frowned. He had decided to tell Inoue everything;which was not a big deal since she already knew most of the story, but facing Urahara was a lot different. Unfortunately, Gin was right. He had seen Shiro’s released form defeating Aizen and had even exchanged a few words with him; so he had probably figured out most of the picture by now. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a senkaimon opened under Matsumoto’s command. This time, Ichigo didn’t bother to ask if anybody in the Seireitei would notice their departure.He had already concluded that security measures meant nothing to Gin;and looking at the lack of surprise from Matsumoto’s part, it was pretty obvious that this wasn’t the first time she had broken the rules either.

A few minutes later, they were seated in Urahara’s living room, sharing tea while everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Inoue was seated close to Ichigo; her mere presence was a reassuring calm warming his worries, which were mainly focused on the shop’s owner and the best way to bring the subject up. However, Urahara paid him no attention, as his gaze was placed on Matsumoto, trying to figure out how involved she really was—or had been. The vice-captain shifted uncomfortably under the green-silver stare and turned to look at Gin, who was smiling as calm as ever, stirring his dark steaming tea lazily.

“So, can we finally talk,” Matsumoto smirked slightly at her partner “ex-CaptainIchimaru?”

Gin snorted softly and turned to face Urahara to answer. “Of course Ran, let’s put the cards on the table. Don’t you agree, Kisuke?”

“I completely agree, Gin.” Urahara was smiling flawlessly. “Mainly because this time I hold no cards at all.”

Gin chuckled softly. “Yeah, sure. Let me ask you something: when did you figure out my plan?”

Urahara relaxed in his chair and took a sip of his tea before answering. “I started to seriously suspect somethingwhen you kidnapped Inoue. It precipitated the war and timing was in your favor. So, it wasn’t a logical step.”

“And Soul Society shared this opinion?” Gin cocked an eyebrow in an incredulous gesture.

Urahara sighed. “They thought you wanted to divide our army. And so did Aizen, I assume.”

“Yeah. He was as narrow-minded as the rest of the captains.” Gin also relaxed in his chair and waited for Urahara to continue.

“I hate to admit it, but it was a wise move. Of course, at that time I had no idea about who was under the plot... I suspected you, and the way you and Kurosaki fought confirmed my suspicions. You weren’t fighting him at all; but I didn’t know if Kurosaki was aware of this. Hedidn’t seem to fear you, but he didn’t look like he knew what was going on either. Of course, when I found you later it was pretty obvious there was something between you.” Ichigo shifted uncomfortably at these words, but Urahara only smirked at him “We will get to that later, Kurosaki.” Facing Gin again he continued. “But what amazed me the most was the tactics used during Karakura’s war. You matched people by abilities so not a single shinigami died. How the hell did you manage to not lose anybody?”

 

Gin’s eyes opened for the first time. They were icy cold, and so was his voice. “I lost most of the low ranks, theKingand a few espadas in Hueco Mundo; don’t you dare say I haven’t fucking lost anybody. My arrancars fought to win, your shinigami fought to kill.”

Urahara’s eyes widened slightly while he approached the table, showing a bit of surprise for the first time this night “Your arrancars? The King?”

Gin forced himself to calm down, his voice sounding softer but the sharp edge was still there. “Barragan was the closest to a king that could ever be in Hueco Mundo. He should lead the situation now.”

Urahara sounded sincerely curious this time. “But he was not the first espada.”

“Aizen never considered itnecessary to keep a self proclaimed king as their leader, so he decided to rank them by the raw power that they showed to him. He never knew that the arrancars had always listened to their King, although it didn’t mean that they followed his commands or suggestions; but his opinions were always considered.”Gin took a pause and let his gaze drift to the ceiling. When he spoke again, his voice was stained with a tinge of resentment. “Like the rest of the shinigami, Aizen considered all arrancars arrogant enough to blatantly reveal their powers if threatened properly, so he never thought that any of them would decide to hide something from him.”

Urahara relaxed slightly in his chair, his face a mixture of surprise and amusement. “So, you mean that the ones fighting in Karakura weren’t the strongest espada?”

“It depends on what you mean by strongest… Doyou mean raw power? In a team fight? In a one to one combat?” Gin relaxed at the sight of Urahara’s delighted interest and smirked slightly before going on. “Or do you mean in a street fight? It’s not so easy to rank powerful people. Would you dare to rank the shinigami captains?”

Urahara didn’t take the bait and focused instead on his previous concerns. “Why would some arrancars hide their power?”

Gin’s answer was as cryptic as his current smile. “The more powerful you are considered, the less freedom you are allowed. If you pretend to go unnoticed, it’s better to be average.”

The blond shinigami chuckled softly but didn’t skip the subject. “That just brings me tothe same question: why would they want to go unnoticed?” His voice was almost playful, but his eyes shined with knowledge far from untroubled.

Gin noticed Urahara’s hard stare behind the easy smile. “You don’t think I went this far just to save Soul Society from Aizen’s plans, do you? Please, I thought you were smarter, Kisuke.”

The blond shinigami leaned back in his chair as realization fell over him like icy rain. “You expected them to kill each other.”

Gin acknowledged the truth hidden below these words. “I hoped they might kill each other; but as none of them died, now I have to walk the longer path.”

“Wait, wait…” Ichigo couldn’t remain silent for longer. He had barely followed the conversation, but now he was completely lost. At his side, Inoue looked as clueless as him. After an awkward silence, Matsumoto answered his unspoken question.

“Yamamoto.” She was playing lazily with the tea spoon, never facing anybody. “He wished him dead.”

“The old man?” Ichigo’s surprise only increased as he realized Matsumoto was completely unimpressed by the revelation. He stood up, facing Gin, his voice rising “You wanna kill him?”

Gin only smiled tiredly. “I said I hoped he died, not that I wanted to kill him. Everything would be easier without him messing around.”

Ichigo sighed and dropped down onto his chair. The exhaustion was starting to weigh heavily on him.

“So, what’s your plan now? Just sit down and wait in prison?” Ichigo took the tea cup and drank a sip, trying to recover a little serenity, something that had never been his strongest point so far.

Gin left his tea to watch Ichigo’s reaction. “No, in fact I’m gonna use you to convince that stubborn old man to make a deal with the vasto lordes of Hueco Mundo.”

Ichigo almost choked into his tea before looking back at Gin, eyes wide open, while Urahara laughed loudly at his words. Inoue was as shocked as Ichigo, but she felt too stunned to overreact.

“What the fuck are you laughing at?” Ichigo frowned at Urahara’s reaction, although the mood lightening was more than evident.

Surprisingly, it was Matsumoto’s turn to feel like something was missing. “Precisely, Gin. What is Kurosaki’s role in the picture? Has it something to do with his hollow powers?”

Everybody was now looking at him. Ichigo felt himself blushing at the sudden unwanted attention.He had a pretty good idea about Gin’s intentions, but he didn’t know how to explain his so called “hollow powers” yet; so, he decided to drink to avoid the stares. Unfortunately for him, Gin spoke again, smiling widely without even looking at the blushing shinigami.

“Well, since Ichigo is on friendly terms with his hollow, I thought that Shirosaki could be extremely useful to prove… the hollow’s harmless nature.”

Ichigo did choke this time and blushed again. There was no coming back from this point. It was true that Matsumoto and Urahara had already seen Shiro but from now on, they will know that he “willingly” allowed his hollow to take full control of his body. What if they freaked out? What if…

“Ichigo, why do you look so upset?” Inoue’s voice stopped his storming mind, drawing him out of those unsettling thoughts. “We have already met him, it’s not that big a deal.”

“It’s just. I...”.He couldn’t bring himself toanswer anything coherent at that point.

Inoue cut him offhelpfully. “You didn’t want us to freak out?” She smirked at him playfully, Ichigo feeling immediately better.

“Yeah; he can be kinda creepy.”

Gin interrupted their private joke, his words teasing Ichigo. “Wouldn’t it be easier and faster to explain if you just let him out?” Without another word, Gin stood up and walked to the nearest wall. He placed a hand on it while whispering something and after a brief sparkle, a faint glow covered the four walls and the ceiling.

He came back to join the others in the table as Urahara looked at him mildly impressed. “A hollow’s reiatsu barrier, I suppose?”

Gin smirked at the shop owner. “Just in case yours doesn’t work fine with hollows.”

Urahara gave him an incredulous look. “So, are you assuming that Ichigo is going to release his hollow in my living room?”

Ichigo suddenly realized Gin’s real intentions. The point has never been to reveal that he had a hollow, nor that he could fully transform either. The astonishing part for the shinigami was to accept that they could peacefully coexist with a hollow. So, choosing a living room, with everybody drinking tea peacefully, instead of revealing him in the basement grounds was the key point.

Ichigo grinned widely at Urahara, enjoying the fact that, for the very first time since they met, he will be able to surprise the older man. “Gin is right, Shiro can explain everything much better than I can. See you in a while, guys.”

Before disappearing, he gave a glimpse on Gin’s eyes, understanding finally flowing between them. The usual swirl of black reiatsu left Shirosaki sitting relaxed on Ichigo’s place. His reversed black and golden eyes shined amused at the people staring at him.

“Long time no see, Gin” It had barelybeen two hours since they had gone to Hueco Mundo, but the hollow knew that the others had no idea about their little adventure. Gin smirked at him, not missing the irony of his words.

“It’s been an awfully long day, Shiro. Have you been listening all the time?” Gin refilled Ichigo’s cup with tea without asking, and offeredhim the sugars. “Shiro took two sweet cubes and stirred the steaming cup, clearly amused by the situation.

“Of course. I never miss Ichigo’s embarrassing moments.” He took a deep sip and looked at the group of people gathered there. “So, why exactly am I at this lovely tea party?”

Gin smiled innocently. “I wanted to properly introduce you tomy dearest friend, Matsumoto Rangiku.”

Shiro stared at her intensively, grinning lustfully at the sight of her breasts. “It’s an absolutepleasure to meet you, honey. I can see why he is your friend.”

“She is much more than a lovely cover, Shiro. And she is mine, so keep your hands off her.”

He could have sounded threatening, but his amused features highly reduced the effect.

Shiro snorted before teasing him a little more. “I didn’t know you were so—picky.And I haven’t eventried to put my hands on her. Yet.”

“You guys do know that I’m here, don’t you?” Matsumoto frowned and looked at Gin. “If you ever had the right to call me ‘mine’, you completely lost it a month ago, so you better start working on making it up to me.” She smirked at Gin’s mildly surprised face and turned to Shiro. “And if you ever dream about laying a hand on my fucking wonderful body, you are more than welcome to try. But you better keep in mind that I’m not easy to reach.” She leaned forward, blue eyes locked on golden ones. “I’m a vice-captain; I’m more than capable to cutyour hand off if you are not worthy of it, hollow.”

Urahara and Inoue tensed, faces worried as they half expected a violent reaction from Ichigo’s hollow. However, Shiro laughed loudly at Matsumoto empty threat. “I now can see why he likes you. You are a pretty interesting woman, shinigami. I like you.”

Urahara had been silently observing their interaction. Obviously, Gin and Ichigo’s hollow knew each other, but he was surprised at Matsumoto’s reaction. She wasn’t intimidated by the hollow’s form, nor his provocative comments. In fact, the three of them seemed to play a disrespectful verbal battle, a mixture of sexual insinuations and empty fighting threats. He understood that Gin was used to this kind of interaction, as he had been in Hueco Mundo for the last month, and he had probably been going there long before that, but he had no idea why Matsumoto seemed to be so comfortable with this. It almost looked like she was also used to interacting with hollows, which would have been impossible unless...He grinned. This night was starting to get very interesting.

“How long have you been going to Hueco Mundo, Matsumoto?”

Everybody turned to face her. Matsumoto grinned back enigmatically. “Long enough.”

When she didn’t elaborate, he let the issue go for now and turned to speak to Shiro for the first time. “So, what kind of agreement have you made with Ichigo? You overpowered him?”

Shiro’s face grew serious “We share the body—willingly.I have always overpowered him, but I’m not taking overby force.”

“Why not?” Urahara was truly curious now. He, as well as the rest of the shinigami, had always assumed that Ichigo’s hollow wouldtry to control him at some point.

Shiro sighed. He realized every shinigami he met would eventually ask the very same questions, and explaining himself all over again was a pain in the ass; but he had promised Gin he would help, so he took a deep breath and faced Urahara. “We had an agreement. I have few demands and I’m easy to please. If I’m fine, Ichigo is fine, so everybody is fine. It’s much easier that way than a constant fight for dominance.”

Urahara looked at him slightly amused. “I see. So you are the one who defeated Aizen, after all?”

Shiro smirked. He expected Urahara to start asking the endless battery of silly questions about their situation, but he seemed to be perfectly fine with it. It surprised him, but couldn’t say he didn’t prefer it that way. “Not really. We fought together. Aizen was stronger than me. We joined forces.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were so close that you could do that.I guess you both have been training a lot.” Shiro didn’t miss the glance the blond man gave Gin.

“There’s still room for improvement.”

Urahara smiled enigmatically. “You can train here if you want. It’s completely sealed, even for hollow’s reiatsu.” He directed the last words to Gin and was now grinning openly to Shiro and added. “And you can bring whatever sparring partner you like.”

Shiro stared at him, not missing the implications of what Urahara was offering. “Without questions?”

“Hm, hm” The old shinigami held the golden stare until Shiro finally whispered.

“Why?”

Urahara smiled. “If both of you are fine, it’s a goodenough reason for me. And you probably are going to need some place to release the stress of your ‘evaluation’. Dealing with the shinigami of Soul Society can be highly stressful.”

The hollow smirked back. “I’m not as easy to upset as Ichigo, but thanks.”

Shiro finally turned to Inoue grinning widely. She had been staring ather empty cup since he appeared, so he had no clue about which attitude the girl would have with him. But as everybody had dropped their masks, he hopedshe would, too. He really hated her sweet shield.

“Nice to see you again, _sweetie_.” He leaned closer, to whisper in her neck “Did I scare you at that tower?”

The last time they had seen each other was during the fight with Ulquiorra, when he had released his body trying to save Ichigo. He had completely lost his temper and gave a bloody show. It had been more a butchery than afight. And not to mention, it had been the first time she felt his dark reiatsu unleashed without the training seals.

She leveled her gaze with the hollow’s, meeting those weird black and golden eyes. Smirking slightly she moved her right hand to grab Shiro’s collar, holding him close. Deliberately being slow, she used her other hand to tilt Shiro’s chin while she leaned closer, their lips almost touching. When she finally spoke, her words flew soft and slow.

“There is no fucking way you scare me, Shiro.” She caressed his lower lip with her thumb. “And I clearly told you not to call me that.”

Shiro snorted and grabbed the teasing hand. “And I clearly remember telling you I would when you stopped behaving like one.”

She made no move to release her hand from Shiro’s iron grip and held his stare. “Well, I’m not now.”

Shiro cocked an eyebrow. “You sure?”

Inoue blinked. She felt her resolve faltering at the thought of the implications in Shiro’s words.

Everybody in that room had been sincere so far, even Ichigo had let everything out. Now it was her turn to place the cards on the table. Throwing all cautions to the wind, she locked her eyes on Shiro’s. “No, I’m not. But it’s about time.”

He grinned at the new found resolve on her eyes and closed the small distance they hadbetween them, crushing their lips together. It was rough and short, but the message was perfectly delivered to all present.

“Well, nice to know that you are finally in the open, healer bitch.”

Inoue chuckled. “Go to hell.”

Shiro released her and turned to the stunned faces of all that were present. “See you, guys.” Without any more warnings, Shiro’s form reversed to Ichigo’s, who looked nervously at Urahara. The blond shinigami grinned flawlessly to the orange haired boy.

“You never stop surprising me, Kurosaki. One can never get bored around you.”

“Are you really OK, with this? Aren’t you worried?” Ichigo was still reluctant to believe that the subject was over. And the funny looks that Matsumoto was giving to Inoue promised that the matter was far from over.

Urahara chuckled. “It’s your decision. If you are fine and she is OK, then it’s enough for me.” He smiled amused at Ichigo’s and Inoue’s sudden blush. “However, you should be sure that you tell your friends before they discoverit by an official report.” His smile vanished at some unpleasant thought, and he hesitated a moment before continuing. “And you must face Hirako. The sooner, the better.”

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Shinji’s temper. Urahara turned to look at Gin again, this time there was no amusement left in his voice.

“Anyway, there are more worrisome things to deal with at the moment. You do know they are going to blame you for his choice, don’t you?”

Gin’s voice sounded tired. “Of course. But I had no other options.”

“Are you really commanding the vasto lordes?” Urahara’s eyes shined strangely bright, his voice lower than usual.

Gin snorted faintly. “Nobody _commands_ avasto lorde. We just work together.”

“What for?”

The silver haired shinigami took a deep breath before talking with the same tired voice from a moment ago. “vasto lordes and shinigami captains have the same objective; they just disagree on the methodology. It should be easy to cooperate.”

Ichigo interrupted again, feeling himself missing something again. “Same objective?”

Urahara answered first this time. “Soul balance control. If unbalanced, the three worlds would collapse.”

“Oh. So, where is the problem?” Ichigo’s innocent look reminded Urahara how young the boy was, and how few things he knew about the shinigami. So many things happened in the last months that the older man easily forgot; that only a year ago Ichigo was merely a human.

“They won’t accept any alliance with a hollow, vasto lorde or not. _If he’s a hollow, then he must be killed.”_ The blond shinigami’s voice sounded also tired. Something changed in his eyes, as if this statement had stirred some old unpleasant memory.

Ichigo still refused to give up. “Even if he doesn’t attack anybody?”

“ _It’s a potential threat that we cannot allow_.” Ichigo looked puzzled at Gin, who had mimicked Yamamoto’s commanding tone.

Urahara smiled sadly. “You have no chance to win this, Gin. Are you really going to drag them into a war against their own friends?”

Before Gin could say a word, Ichigo cut him offsharply. “I will never have to fight my friends, Urahara, they will trust me.” His voice sounded exhausted, but held Urahara’s stare until the blond shinigami sighed.

“One thing is trusting you, another one is trusting the former Captain Ichimaru.” His voice sounded harder than he had intended. Reluctantly, he decided not to push the matter any further. “Well, let’s hope we won’t need to check this point, Kurosaki.” The former captain stood up slowly, finishing the conversation. He faced Gin one more time, his voice calmer. “Whatever you need, Gin.”He didn’t need to finish the sentence as they found an unspoken understanding when their eyes met.

“Thanks Kisuke.”

Even Matsumoto was surprised by the sincerity of Gin’s voice.

 

 


	5. Memories part III.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories from Karakura, 3 weeks before war.

Memories. Part III.

Karakura town. 3 weeks before the war.

By the end of the second week, Ichigo was afraid that everything could be hopelessly slipping out of control.

His fighting skills had improved visibly, both with the vizards as well as with Grimmjow. He could keep the mask for some seconds longer by now and his defeats at the espada's hands were not as overwhelming as they had been a week before. As a result, they lasted longer and most days it was nightfall when the arrancar departed to Hueco Mundo.  
If it bothered Inoue, she never complained, although they slept fewer hours each day. She had been healing him twice per day, before and after these evenings meetings, and never again said a word about the espada. Ichigo noticed her curiosity, but he still was afraid to tell her everything. He had already explained his reasons for the double training, as well as his deal with Shiro, but he hadn't let the hollow out to meet her. Shiro had been asking him almost every day, but Ichigo was too afraid of her reaction. If she saw Shiro's face… he would most probably scare the hell out of her, and Ichigo didn't dare to let that happen. She was his only anchor with the real world, and he was quite sure he could not bear to go ahead alone.

On a completely different level, there was also the matter of his relationship with Grimmjow. Shiro not only hadn't stopped his teasing games with the espada, but also had thrown Ichigo in the field with them. The hollow had quickly realized that Ichigo was nervous about the way his body reacted to the arrancar, and had found an added enjoyment in placing the shinigami in all sorts of embarrassing situations. These last days, their fights had definitely taken a definite harassing edge on Ichigo's calm and their interactions were bedeviled by sexual insinuations.  
This was the main reason why Ichigo had decided to go to his inner world to talk with Shiro but his attempts had proven futile so far. Shiro had almost died laughing at him and had called him craven and a hypocrite. The hollow reminded him that he could not hide anything from him, not even his feelings. They had been arguing for a while, and not only about Grimmjow but also about Inoue. Shiro couldn't understand why he made no move to approach her either, as from his point of view, she was more than willing to bring their relationship to another level. After a heated discussion, Ichigo realized that trying to make him understand was pointless. Shiro just suggested to stop thinking and start acting on both fronts. For that alone, Ichigo almost regretted not having killed him when he was supposed to. In the end, he just left his inner word with a chilly feeling, as the last words he heard from Shiro were the threat to solve his doubts quickly or he would take action instead.

This evening his mood was so gloomy after dinner that Inoue had insisted on going out for a walk in the park. They wandered around in silence for a long time, until they sat down on the top of a small hill, looking absent minded to the city below.

"You do know you can tell me anything that's bothering you, don't you?" She was seated with her legs stretched in front of her and leaning back on her hands. Her gaze was lost on the roofs below.

"Hm..." he hesitated.

"Everything is fine with the vizards?" she inquired softly.

"Hm." This time, there were no uncertainties in his voice.

Inoue easily realized that this wasn't the source of his late troubles, so it must be the other. He probably wasn't going to tell her anything, but she tried anyway without much hope. "The training with the arrancar is working?"

"Hm. I'm getting much better, and Shiro too." He had talked more than strictly necessary, and she didn't fail to catch its meaning.

Smiling faintly, she pressed on. "And does he like sparring with Grimmjow?"

Ichigo blushed visibly and Inoue quickly recognize the embarrassment in his voice.

"Maybe too much." He pointed out, and realized too late he should have never spoken these words aloud; but he could not call them back now. He had slipped into dangerous grounds and had already revealed far too much.

When Inoue only smiled teasingly, Ichigo relaxed a little. "What does he like the most, the fights or the fighter?"

Ichigo kept the blush and smiled nervously. There was no way he could avoid the subject now, so he just accepted his abashed fate. He tilted his head to meet her shining eyes.  
"Probably both. It's awfully embarrassing, you know?"

She sounded mildly amused. "Why? Grimmjow doesn’t like it?"

Ichigo snorted. "Because they play with me and every time they get in any embarrassing position, Shiro switches the body back to me."

Inoue was grinning widely by now. "Oh, and you don't like Grimmjow that way?"

Ichigo looked at her with wide eyes. He couldn't believe she was asking this; she should be freaking out, not being amused. Watching his distress, Inoue laughed and went on. "He's hot as hell. You would be blind not to notice it."

His face was now impossibly red. "He's an arrancar!"

"So what? You are half shinigami and half hollow, so you are not all that different. And anyway, what's the problem with that?" She was clearly teasing him, and he didn't know how to make her stop without making a fool of himself.

"He's not human!" he exclaimed with exasperation.

"Neither are the shinigami but that didn't stop you from fucking them," she pointed out immediately. 

"I'm half shinigami also ..." Even he knew it was just a lame excuse, and she didn't buy it. "So, I'm the only one without any excuse? I'm just a human, and I'm the only one to blame for fucking a shinigami?" She still had that amused tone that made it extremely difficult for Ichigo to be mad at her; and her cheerful mood was highly contagious. Glad to see him relaxing and falling into the game, she went on with a clear teasing edge. "Besides, you are half hollow too." "Do not remind me." He finally smiled back at her. "What does Shiro think about all this? Have you talked with him?" she asked with true curiosity. He sighed and drew a knee up to his chest, crossing his arms over it. "It's better not to ask." She smiled playfully and instigated him to talk; threatening him with a new set of fancy tasty dishes she had in mind for the next days until Ichigo finally surrendered, laughing. "He just wants to fuck him." Inoue laughed at him. When she recovered her breath, she smirked at him and leaned closer to question boldly. "And you? Haven't you dreamt about fucking him?"  
Ichigo blushed furiously but forced himself to answer. "It would be too weird …" Inoue burst out laughing. "So you have thought about it!" He realized too late that she had made him talk too much. Again. He cursed and tried to regain his pride. "I don't like him!" "Ok, ok." She was having serious problems getting a hold on herself. After a few quick deep breaths, she felt her voice calm enough to clarify the situation for him. "So, you only lust for him." This time Ichigo hit her on the shoulder playfully, and she slapped him back on the arm. They played for a while until they fell on their backs onto the grass. She rested on one elbow to smile him, glad to see he looked much better now.

He grinned back, feeling truly relaxed for the first time since that awfully long week started. Slowly, he brushed a strand of hair from her face to let it lay behind her ear. When he was removing the hand, Inoue caught his wrist and held it in place. Their faces were so close, that they could feel each other's breath. Ichigo was suddenly aware of her soft lips brushing his hand and her eyes shining with a gleam he had never seen. After what Ichigo felt like an eternity, she released his hand and moved forward to brush her thumb over his mouth, smiling softly at his involuntary gasp. His eyes darkened and he bucked forward before his mind could even register the movement. As soon as their lips met, Inoue buried her hand on his nape, encouraging him to deepen the kiss. He eagerly complied and found Inoue's lips opening for him.

They laid there for a while, kissing languidly, until Ichigo managed to get a hold on himself and push her back a little.

"I'm … I'm sorry … I didn't mean …" He hesitated with a scared voice.

"It's OK, just calm down." She smiled warmly and caressed his cheek. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to make you feel better."

Ichigo suddenly had awful pangs of doubt from his conscience. He had just confessed to her his crush on the arrancar; what would she think now? What can he possibly say to fix this mess?

"Ichigo." He looked her, as the name rolled over him with her honey voice. "A kiss will change nothing between us, so don't freak out." Ichigo smiled slightly at these last words, remembering their first real talk. He couldn't help but apologize again.

"I'm really sorry Inoue … but I can't …"

"You don't need to say anything. I will always be here, no matter what. I'll be here when you are ready to go further, and I’ll still be here if you aren’t. I'm not expecting anything, Ichigo. We are beyond friendship. A little bit of sex between us won't change this." She winked at him, aiming for lightening the mood. "It will just make everything funner."  
"But … I'm so sorry … after all I've told you about Grimmjow … if I had to choose …"

She stopped him by hitting his head playfully. "I'm not asking you to choose, dumbass. I'm offering you the chance to spice up our lives; I never said a word about being exclusive!"  
This time, he couldn't help but smile at her. He knew she meant it, and it really would be nice … if he didn't have a hollow in his soul and an arrancar messing with his head. She deserved better and he was not going to cause her more troubles than the ones he had already brought to her life.

They just laid there for a while, talking lightly about more mundane matters. Finally, they walked back chatting cheerfully and when they reached her home, Ichigo’s mood had really improved.

****************

"Are you coming or what?" Grimmjow stood in the ripped sky, waiting for Ichigo to follow him to Hueco Mundo. The young shinigami was still doubtful. It was raining profusely, as it had the day before. Back then, when Grimmjow had seen the awful weather, he tried to convince him to train in Hueco Mundo, where the weather was more stable. Ichigo roundly refused to follow him there, so the arrancar left and they didn't fight for the first day in a fortnight.

His hollow had called him a coward, and even Inoue had admitted that fighting here with the reiatsu suppressors (without anybody able to track him) wasn't any different than moving to fight in another world. Sometimes she almost scared him.

So, he was currently faced with the same problem. Grimmjow stood there, his arm on his hipbone, his head slightly tilted and his trade mark smirk plastered on his face; blatantly defying him to cross the portal. The sight helped Ichigo to make up his mind. He had never been able to refuse a challenge and this was clearly one. Without a second thought, he jumped into the black rip and set foot for the first time on the white sands of Hueco Mundo.

When they started fighting, Ichigo had to admit that it had been a good idea. It was far more comfortable fighting under the moon light than get soaked in the living world. And there was no possibility to get caught (something that permanently bothered Ichigo when sparring in Karakura's park); so, he let himself sink deeper than usual into the fight.  
He even managed a couple of good hits before his face was smashed against a glassy tree. Surprisingly, it didn't break and when the dizziness faded enough for him to focus, he found himself trapped between the tree and the arrancar, who was holding both his wrists above his head and had securely pinned him against the strange crystalline wood with his body pressed on his back.  
When he shivered at Grimmjow's breath on his neck, he knew he had another added problem to his already stormy life. Two weeks ago, if he had been placed in this situation, it would have scared the hell out of him. This time, however, he felt his temperature rise as the arrancar voice whispered in his ear.

"You got in a few good hits this time, Kurosaki. Too bad I finally caught you". The husky words directly caused Ichigo's face to flush. He was unable to move as the horny arrancar was pressing on his thighs.

Ichigo quickly weighed his options. He couldn't visualize any easy escape, so he boldly decided to play along, hoping it wouldn't get too out of control. He turned his face to capture the blue gaze and slowly licked the dry blood from his own lips, not missing the shiver that wracked the arrancar's body. Ichigo smirked at the sight. He had been watching Shiro play this game long enough to know how to make Grimmjow lose his focus.

Keeping his eyes locked on that blue gaze, he smiled faintly to purr. "It's really a pity you've caught me so quickly. I do prefer it to last longer."

Grimmjow's smirk turned into a feral snarl when Ichigo ground slowly against his body, blatantly teasing him. He flipped the shinigami around, smashing his back on the tree and keeping his wrists still pinned above his head. The voice sounded low and thick. "I thought you would prefer it rough, shinigami."

Ichigo's smirk matched his, both pair of eyes on fire, his control slowly faltering under the arrancar's rough voice. "I never said I didn’t."

Grimmjow closed the distance until Ichigo noticed his breath on his neck. The arrancar's teeth were grazing the soft skin of the shinigami, who found himself unconsciously bucking upwards to get more of this dangerously arousing friction. With a hiss, the arrancar moved to face him again, not missing Ichigo's hardness as their bodies rubbed together.

"You don't know what you are doing, shinigami." Grimmjow's voice was intoxicating.

Ichigo completely agreed with these words, but couldn't bring himself to care. His body was screaming for more contact, loud enough to silence his mind.

"And does it matter?" Ichigo's voice sounded far more confident than he really was. The alarm bells of his mind were blazing as contradictory emotions crashed together. His body craved for more contact, for the new field of possibilities that were opening right in front of him; but his mind still refused to give in, afraid of the unimaginable consequences.

Suddenly, the world spun and Ichigo found himself forced unceremoniously to the ground. He was ready to bitterly complain at the rough treatment, but stilled when he saw that Grimmjow wasn't even looking at him. In fact, his gaze was focused on a group of hollows who were hungrily surrounding them. Ichigo heard Grimmjow's cursing and realized that they couldn't release their power and were greatly outnumbered. He immediately changed body with Shiro and both got ready to fight a dozen hollows with nothing more than their sealed swords.

After killing the last one, Grimmjow dropped down next to Shiro, both lying exhausted in the sand. None had been simple hollows and one of them had even been close to adjuchas class. Both fought like hell but Shiro took the brunt of it. He got a rather nasty wound in his shoulder before he managed to deliver a fatal blow on the stronger one.  
Still breathing hard, Grimmjow popped himself up on an elbow to have a closer look at his injured partner. The bleeding hadn't stopped but it has lessened. "Are you ok, hollow?"  
"Shut the fuck up, arrancar. I'm not that easy to kill." His golden eyes were shining, still high from the adrenaline rush.

Grimmjow stared at him, the smell of fresh blood on Shiro's body heating his mind. The arrancar had been horny before the fight, and the thrill of the killing hadn't decreased his arousal in the slightest. Shiro's actions weren't helping Grimmjow's mind to focus either. The white hollow smelled the fresh blood from his hands and when he started licking it slowly, the already weak self-control Grimmjow had, shattered apart.

"Keep doing that and I'm gonna respond." His voice was barely a hiss, his eyes locked on Shiro's actions.

The hollow's smirk curved into a lustful snarl as he slowed deliberately and sucked another finger clean. That was all Grimmjow could take. With a sudden movement, the arrancar jumped on him, straddling his waist. His gaze was locked on Shiro's mouth, his eyes shining dark. Grimmjow could feel the hollow’s hard rock below him and felt his instincts crawling to take over his mind, screaming to ravish this more than willing body. Deliberately slow, the arrancar bent down to lick the fresh blood leaking from the partially closed wound. The salty metallic taste heated up his mind as Shiro groaned loudly, bucking up for more contact.

Panting, the white hollow managed to hold a grip on the blue hair, pulling the arrancar up to meet his gaze; his voice rough and demanding. "Stop the fucking teasing. I don't have energy for this sweet foreplay."

Shiro's words spoke directly to Grimmjow's arousal. Since Aizen had moved to Las Noches, he hadn't had any decent fucks with his usual lover, as they decided to keep a permanent mask of indifference between each other; neither of them willing to risk knowing the consequences of this sort of information falling into Aizen's hands. So, for the last few weeks, he had just fucked with low rank arrancars, none of them worth anything else than for a quick release. However, this hollow was on a completely deferent level. This time, he could allow himself to lose control without worrying about breaking or killing his partner; since Shiro was not only strong enough to match his wildest desires, but also seemed more than willing to do so.

With a low groan Grimmjow started to rip the already torn clothes off the hollow's chest and took no time in loosening the knot of his own pants "You asked for it, hollow. Don't you fucking dare pass out on me if I'm too rough."

Shiro's was already gasping; the blood loss and his current arousal clouding his mind and preventing him from effectively focusing on closing his wounded shoulder. Grimmjow's thick voice wasn't helping either. "If I pass out, just leave me at the healer's house."

Grimmjow tried to listen while his hand moved to unfasten Shiro's pants. "The healer's house?"

"The girl who saw you fighting with Ichigo a couple of weeks ago. We are living there. She knows enough not to ask."

"Great. Now shut the fuck up and focus, your wound has opened again."

"Oh, shit" Shiro place his right hand on his shoulder, noticing his fingers soaking with blood. He was quickly running out of time. With his reiatsu suppressed he hadn't the power to keep the deep cut closed. He lowered the other hand, searching for Grimmjow's arousal and let him free while Grimmjow was doing good work of Shiro's clothes, ripping them off of the hollow's body. All the remaining coherent thoughts that Grimmjow would have been keeping fell apart as Shiro lowered his right hand, now completely soaked with his own warm blood, and generously coated him.

With a feral groan, Grimmjow flipped him, forcing the hollow on his knees and tearing at his few remaining clothes. He took just a moment to lean down and whisper into Shiro's neck, while wetting his fingers in the dripping blood. "Hold on a little longer, hollow, I'm almost there."

Without any other warning, Shiro felt two bloody fingers stretching him. He let out a low groan and felt his arms bend as the fingers fucked him mercilessly. He lowered to rest his face on his forearms, breathing in the smelly sand, already red from his leaking shoulder. As soon as the arrancar noticed him pushing backwards to match his fingers, he added one more, twisting them roughly. Shiro moaned wildly as he started to lose himself in the sudden pleasure waves that came with the angle change. Grimmjow took no time in further preparing him. He removed his fingers and placed himself at his opening. In one swift motion, the arrancar broke through the hardly stretched body and in a few wild thrusts, he had deepened to the hilt. Shiro's mind was lost in the mixture of pain and pleasure coming from Grimmjow's rough treatment. It felt incredibly—vitalizing. But it wasn't nearly enough. The arrancar was too slow, too careful.

Shiro wanted more, needed more. While the espada was still moving slowly, waiting for him to adjust, Shiro moved back, impaling himself hard, with a yell that was half scream and half moan.  
Grimmjow took the hint and started pumping at a good pace. However the arrancar quickly felt his body falter and knew he couldn't keep the rhythm for long. Mentally cursing Aizen for his lost arm, he let Shiro's hipbone go and lowered his hand to stroke the hollow's cock. Shiro's groans heated up, as the arrancar pumped him in time with his wild thrusts.  
Unable to keep his balance any longer with just one arm, Grimmjow moved his hand to the hollow's shoulder to hold himself. It wasn't until he noticed his fingers wetting that he realized he was digging into Shiro's highly injured muscles. He tensed, expecting some kind of complain from his partner, but was only regarded with a litany of low groans from the bleeding hollow. The arrancar tightened his grip experimentally, digging deeper in the wound and slightly increasing the force of his thrusts. This time the groans grow louder, Shiro's voice completely lost in the pain-pleasure waves piercing though his whole body. He stared back over his shoulder, golden eyes burning with need.

"Fuck… harder, arrancar." Shiro moved one hand to stroke himself as Grimmjow smirked savagely. The hollow was clearly enjoying the brutal treatment which the espada was inflicting. Luckily, both of them needed exactly the same thing, and Grimmjow gladly complied. He buried his hand in the white hair, holding a tight grip and roughly pulled up Shiro's body, the hollow's back grinding on his chest. The arrancar moved his hand to grip the pale neck and held it there, half choking him, while whispering in his ear. "Scream for me, hollow."

The arrancar sped up the rhythm and bit down on Shiro's unwounded shoulder, near the crook of his neck, sinking his canines deep into the hollow’s flesh. Shiro cried out as he came hard on his own hand, dragging Grimmjow to his own release.

Grimmjow hardly had any time to exit Shiro's body before both hollows fell to the ground, their legs unable to hold them any longer. They lay down in the sand, panting heavily. The adrenaline had left their bodies and the afterglow left them dealing with the exhaustion of the previous battle.

Grimmjow moved first, sitting up and slowly arranging his ruined clothes. He gave a look at his partner, who still hadn't caught his breath. Both shoulders were now bleeding and all the flesh surrounding the battle cut was turning into every possible shade between crimson and black.

"You can stop the bleeding, hollow. I think we won't need any more lubrication just yet."

Shiro chuckled before eying him, too tired to even consider standing up. "Shut the fuck up, arrancar. You loved it."

Grimmjow smirked back. "Maybe even as much as you did."

Besides the exhaustion, Shiro's golden eyes sparkled with amusement. He still managed to cock an eyebrow to the espada. "You are a fucking sadist."

"Luckily, you are a fucking masochist," he pointed out grinning openly.

"I have my moments." Shiro's voice faded as he used his last energy to give the body back to the shinigami.

Grimmjow looked at the unconscious orange haired boy. He had no idea if the boy had been aware of his intercourse with the hollow, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to know it right now. Sighing deeply, he took Zangetsu and placed the shinigami on his shoulder, hardly managing to open a Garganta without dropping him. He easily found the healer's house and walked straight to the main door. Without second thoughts, he crossed the unlocked door and dropped Ichigo's unconscious body on the couch. Inoue rushed out of the kitchen to find herself faced with the tall arrancar, who she immediately recognized as the espada Ichigo was training with.  
As soon as she saw her friend's body lying lifeless on the couch, she placed her shield on him and started the healing.  
It took her just a moment to realize his wounds weren't life threatening, so she relaxed a little and turned to face the arrancar, who was already ripping a black hole in the air. He left without a backward glance, leaving Inoue with all the unuttered questions staring at the fading ripped air.

***********

When Ichigo finally opened his eyes, the only thing he saw were big dark clouds moving upside-down, while he was lying on the outside crystal of a skyscraper window. He didn't move for a while, nervously afraid to meet his hollow. He had been painfully aware of all their last interactions, from the deathly fight to the bloody fuck. He was so confused that he didn't know how to face Shiro.

Unfortunately for him, the hollow had never been an example of patience.

"What the fuck are you doing lying there?" The eerie voice sounded slightly amused, much to Ichigo's distress. "I haven't dragged you here to sleep."

"And why have you dragged me here?"

"Well, seeing as you were unconscious out there, we could at least have a nice talk here." Ichigo closed his eyes, refusing to meet the hollow's gaze; but unable to avoid his voice. "Before the rain started."

The shinigami opened his eyes again and gave a better look at the sky, realizing that the clouds were growing bigger and darker. He sighed and sat down, eyes cast down.

"What do you want, Shiro?"

"What do YOU want, Ichigo?" Shiro smirked. "I'm not the one in the dark mood."

"Maybe this dark mood comes from your recent actions?" His voice was tinged with resentment.

"Oh, so you didn't enjoy my little love affair with Grimm?" Shiro's mocking tone was fraying Ichigo's temper.

"He almost choked you to death; and you called it a 'little love affair'?" Ichigo's voice was barely a whisper, his self-control barely contained.

Shiro chuckled. "Almost. That is the key word here. That damn arrancar was surprisingly good at it."

Ichigo's eyes were thin slits under his frown as he raised his head to meet Shiro's gaze, his voice hardly a hiss. "He could have killed you. You were playing with fire."

Shiro held his stare unabashedly. "And you can't have fun with fire without a few burns …"

Both stayed still for a while, studying the other, neither of them willing to lower their gaze first. Finally, Shiro grinned. "But you already knew this. Why would you have been stalking Renji if you didn’t?"

"I wasn't stalking Renji!" Ichigo's eyes widened at the sudden turn of the conversation.

Shiro raised his arms in a mocking gesture. "My apologies. You were sparring with him at any chance you had."

"And what's the problem with that?"

"Please Ichigo!" The hollow stood up and approached him, his eyes shining like melted gold. "I was there, remember? You cannot hide from me!" Shiro's voice grew darker as his slow steps were slowly closing the distance between them. "You expected that he would finally decide to go to the next level and fuck you right there." His voice was barely a whisper now. "You hoped he would."

Ichigo blushed furiously, standing up to face his white self. "I've been sparring with most of my friends, why Renji?"

Shiro was so close that his voice was just a hiss. "Because he was hot as hell and powerful enough to almost kill you—twice."

Ichigo's blush increased at Shiro's words. The eerie hollow's low voice was getting on his nerves. He’d had enough; it was far too much for just one day. He turned around, moving away to put some distance between them. "That's enough, Shiro. This conversation is going nowhere. It stops here and now."

"Oh, I didn't know you were so afraid. What do you fear, Ichigo? I'm getting too close to your darker wishes?" Shiro's rough voice felt like liquid fire on Ichigo's mind.

He tried desperately to find a way out while the hollow was slowly approaching him again. "I'm not afraid. And we have already fucked, remember?"

Shiro didn't buy it for a second. "Yeah, I remember. Renji, Rukia and you; a sweet sexy night. It wasn't half bad, but you know I'm not talking about that."

Suddenly the world spun and Ichigo found his back pushed to a concrete wall, Shiro's body pressed on him. The hollow had both his wrists pinned over his head with one hand, while the other gripped on his neck tightly.

"Are you afraid now, Ichigo?" The gold and black eyes were locked onto brown ones, both pairs shining, filled with the sudden adrenaline rush. Ichigo's voice was rough and somehow angry.

"No, I'm not". He looked intensely into the golden orbs, doing nothing to free himself.

Shiro smirked evilly and leaned closer, his voice low and thick. "Good. And you neither fear Grimmjow. So, what's holding you back?" His eyes closed to slits as he was getting angrier as he spoke. "I've proved to you that he is more than willing to be that to you, so why are you so fucking afraid to accept it?"

Ichigo could barely hold back his surprise as he realized Shiro's true intentions under the play. He had done this to force Ichigo to experience what he really wanted, but never dared to admit it. Shiro didn't wait for an answer and kept going on.

"I know what you want, and I know how scared you are. It pisses me off." He leant forward, burying his face in Ichigo's neck. His grip released Ichigo's wrists and moved lower, to rest by his side. He took a moment before speaking again, this time his voice sounded calmer, somehow tired. "I want the same as you, and Grimmjow too. Why are you making everything so fucking difficult?"

Ichigo knew that Shiro had just proved to him that the espada wouldn't mind fucking him as rough and hard as he wished. However, despite how much both had enjoyed the moment, Grimmjow had just taken advantage of the situation, and an admission like this would give the arrancar too much power over him. It would be an extremely unbalanced relationship, which was clearly pointing to a dramatic outcome.

Ichigo sighed defeated. "And what about Inoue? I can't do this to her."

Shiro's eyes darkened. "Don't you dare bring up Inoue here! She has been waiting for you to make a move for the last whole week. And you haven't done a fucking thing!"  
"She deserves better than me!"

"Of course she deserves better than a fucking craven who can't even admit what he wants!"

Ichigo held his tongue and forced himself to focus on the previous matter. "He's just looking for another way to crush me, I'm not gonna give him that pleasure."

Shiro's grip on his neck tightened. "Shit. You are slower that what I thought. You should take advantage of these kind of opportunities—since they tend to be scarce. There will be plenty of time for wailing later." Giving Ichigo no time to register these enigmatical words, he released him as suddenly as he had caught him. He turned around and walked away a dozen steps. When he turned back, he was smiling playfully. "Wanna bet?"

Ichigo blinked before adjusting to the hollow's mood change. "What kind of bet?"

"If next time I fuck Grimmjow as rough and hard as he fucked me today, and he gladly agrees … you give him a try."

Ichigo smirked. There was no fucking chance Shiro could manage to crush the espada to that level, Grimmjow was still stronger than them. "But if you can't do it in—a week, you are going to admit that you were absolutely wrong about all this, and you are going to stop interfering with Inoue as well. And you will deeply apologize to me."

Shiro walked closer, grinned widely while offering him a hand. "Deal."

Ichigo shook, his mood greatly improved. He was going to win that bet doing absolutely nothing. He would finally get to let go of the Inoue's matter. And have an apology from Shiro—that alone would be priceless.


	6. Memories. Part IV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karakura town. 2 weeks before war. Shiro decided to start moving things, so he met Inoue. Enjoy :)

**Karakura town. 2 weeks before war.**

Shiro was beyond pissed. It’s been two weeks since Ichigo started living with that girl, and one since she had opened up to him. She had been doing her best to let Ichigo know her feelings for him, but the stupid boy hadn’t taken the hint. And today … was the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Inoue was teasing him about some highly suspicious wounds he had all over his body and the kid finally surrendered under her wicked jokes. He gave her so many blushes and babbles that even the most naïve girl could get an idea about what happened in Hueco Mundo. And Inoue was not a naïve girl, so she figured out most of the picture by the time Ichigo was able to run away and crawl under his blanket with a bright crimson blush all over his face.

Despite all his worries, Ichigo was so exhausted that he quickly fell slept, but Inoue couldn’t. She was far more worried than she had let him know.  She really wanted to help him, but he still refused to let her get close. He looked so troubled today from his hollow’s actions that she doubted her reassuring words had reached him at all.

When two hours later she was still fully awake, she moved to the kitchen, trying to calm her restlessness with a honeyed tea. She stubbornly focused on the tea arrangements, forcing her thoughts in the matter at hand and burying her worries as deep in her mind as she could. She was so absent minded that she never heard the soft footsteps walking down the stairs.

“Hi, princess.”

Inoue jumped at the eerie voice. She turned to find herself faced with the weirdest version of Ichigo she could have ever imagined. A completely white copy of her friend was standing in the door frame, leaning lazily with his back resting against the wooden framework and his arms crossed on his chest. The wide grin spread on his face sent a chill down her spine as two black and golden eyes pierced through her very soul.

She tried her best not to show her distress. She didn’t trust her body; it would probably start shaking the moment she paused, so she kept going on with the tea arrangements, moving around the cabinets and trying desperately not to look back.

“Would you like some tea?” She was almost proud that her voice hadn’t shaken too much.

“It would be nice … but a beer will do better.”

The creepy tone didn’t help the slightest to ease the tension rising in the small kitchen. Inoue moved to get one bottle from the refrigerator and placed it opened on the table, barely managing to avoid Shiro’s golden stare.

The hollow didn’t miss the fact that she kept as much distance between them as the kitchen allowed, while pretending to look confident. He liked that she didn’t seem to fear him enough to just run away screaming but at the same time she was sufficiently careful to keep her distance.

He slowly approached the table, took his beer and moved to her side, leaning his back against the refrigerator and emptying half a bottle in one single swallow. In the meantime, Inoue had her tea ready and couldn’t find any excuse to keep wandering around, so she took the steaming cup and finally faced him.

“So, why are you here?” Her voice sounded far calmer than she really was.

“It’s about time we met, don’t you think?” Shiro smirked widely, glad to see that she was taking it reasonably well. “Since Ichigo is such a pussy, I decided to make a move.”  

Inoue looked him puzzled. She wasn’t sure what he meant, until something flickered in her mind. “He doesn’t know you are here, does he?”

Shiro took another long drink before confirming her fears. “Of course not. He’s sleeping. He wouldn’t let me out.”

Inoue’s mind was fighting with herself. On one hand, she had wanted to meet him for a while. But on the other, she felt it was like ‘treason’ to betray Ichigo’s recent trust, as he hadn’t agreed with this — encounter. “Why not?”

“I told you, he is a fucking craven. He’s afraid.”

Suddenly, realization washed over her like a warm blanket. Inoue relaxed visibly and took a deep sip of the steaming tea. When she spoke, there was a clear smirk in her face and the hollow noticed the hint. “I see.”

Shiro drank again and took a step closer, mildly surprised at her reaction. “Glad to see he was obviously wrong.”

Inoue kept her place, muttering to herself. “That stupid …” She stirred her cup and raised her head to look at him again, this time taking her time to stare at him from head to toe. “Can he hear us now?”

“Nope. He’s still sleeping. You want me to wake him up?” His eyes were now clearly daring her to take the challenge, which she couldn’t bring herself to accept.  

“Not really. I guess he can wait a bit longer.”

Truth be told, she was surprised at her suddenly found resolve. She had been repeatedly accused of being too trusting, and maybe she was wrong this time. But still … she could feel Ichigo’s reiatsu flowing faintly, wrapped by the hollow’s dark power. As dim as it was, she couldn’t feel any traces of uncertainty or distress in it, so she decided that it was worth a try.

 “So, tell me, why are you here?” The words were almost the same as those she had already said a moment ago, but the mood was completely different now.

“I have already told you.” Shiro finished the beer and approached her. He stood in front of her, and slowly closed the distance as he placed the empty bottle on the counter behind her back. “I wanted to _know you_ ”. His voice became thicker and he could see her shivering slightly as the words rolled over her.

He retreated as suddenly as he had come and walked to the refrigerator. “A beer?”

She was about to refuse, looking at the steaming cup already filled in her hands but quickly changed her mind. Adrenaline was running far too high to be calmed with a hot tea, so drowning her blood with alcohol looked suddenly more appealing. She had the sense of foreboding that she would need some courage soon enough; and the beer would bring her at least some boldness. She left the almost untouched tea on the counter next to the empty bottle and stretched one arm as she approached him, hand opened, accepting the offer in a silent gesture.

Shiro opened two bottles and passed one to her, grinning amused as the situation seemed to flow smoothly enough. He dropped down unceremoniously, sitting legs-crossed on the floor and resting his back on the refrigerator. She sighed and followed him to the floor, drawing both knees up to her chest and embracing them with both arms. They just drank in silence for a while, until she stretched on leg and spoke quietly.

“You have been with Ichigo long enough to know me. These last days I have been completely sincere with him. What else would you want to know?”

The hollow chuckled. “Even if it were true, which it isn’t, there are some other unspoken issues that I need to know.”

She opened her mouth to deny the implied accusation but decided to drop the subject by (delete “by”, could say “right”) now. Instead, she tried to follow him. From her point of view, there were so many unspoken topics about Ichigo’s storming life that she had no clue about Shiro’s thinking. “Which issues?”

His face became serious for a moment, as he turned his head to look at her. “Me.”

“You?” She was expecting some unknown topic or some astonishing revelation, anything but this. “Ichigo told me about you. You are here … Hell, I’m here. What do you need to know?”

“That’s precisely the point.” He rested his head on the metallic door and let his gaze drift. His voice surprisingly soft. “I will always be here.”

“Well, if you are a part of Ichigo’s soul, that’s pretty obvious.” She took a deep sip and stared him. That wasn’t the kind of behavior she could have imagined of a hollow. But as he was Ichigo’s hollow, she couldn’t have expected anything conventional at all. Anyway, Ichigo had told her about him a few days ago, so she couldn’t see why it should be bothering her now.

“You should be more concerned about all this, you know?” He let his eyes meet Inoue’s.

Shiro’s body was almost exactly the same as Ichigo’s but his eyes were a world apart. They seemed to look directly into her very soul. She didn’t miss the change in them, as they shined brightly again. Those golden irises were almost sparkling over the black sclera. She felt the tension coil in him, his reiatsu far darker than any shinigami she had ever met. It was raw power barely contained under the strong seal.

She swallowed the remains of the beer and tried to ease the mood. “Are you threatening me?” Her words had a playful tone, but her eyes remain sharp.

“I wouldn’t dare.” He followed her mildly amused.

“Oh. Did I frighten you?”

Shiro chuckled, “Not you.”

She perfectly knew where this conversation was going, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go there. But somehow, she was speaking before her mind agreed to follow that path.

“Why are you afraid of him?” Much to her distress, her voice had clearly a flirtatious edge. She should be blaming the alcohol for that.

Shiro approached her, brushing her cheek with his thumb as his voice barely reached her mind. “Maybe because he is very fond of you.”

She trapped his wrist but didn’t pull him away. She could hardly suppress the astonishment she felt at his touch, when she noticed that his skin was steel hard. Forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand, she managed to speak again. “And that explains why you are here now?”

He moved suddenly to straddle her, his wrist still in her hands. “No,” his voice decreased tenfold to whisper too close to her neck, “You know why I’m here, _liar_.”

She tried to push him away, but his body was pressed firmly between her and the cabinet. His thick voice sent another chill down her spine but this time it was followed by a bright blush on her cheeks.

“I haven’t been lying to you.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“You haven’t been telling the truth either.” His free hand moved to the nape of her neck, holding her close as he spoke. “What I wanted to know was if you will be able to keep your offer in spite of the odds.” He moved his thumb over Inoue’s lips, who seemed to be speechless.

She took a deep breath and tried to gain some composure before speaking, though the words sounded slightly shaky anyway. “I meant everything I said.”

“Even though I’m here?”

Inoue felt his hand softly massaging the back of her neck. Much to her distress, her body was responding to Shiro’s teasing and there weren’t many things she could do to avoid it. “I thought we were over it. I already knew you would be here when I approached him.”

Shiro’s eyes darkened and his face became scarily serious again. “And even though, you still love him?”

Inoue’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected this. She had always been careful not to let Ichigo suspect anything. She had offered a friendship with benefits, although it might be hard for her, but she had really meant it. She knew he didn’t love her back, so she never told him her feelings. And she didn’t pretend to do it now. But if Shiro knew …

The hollow could easily read the fear in her eyes although he couldn’t decide what was frightening her most. He removed his hands from her body, allowing her some space before asking softly.

“So, will you be able to keep your offer even without expecting any reciprocity from his part?”

“Does he know?”

Shiro grinned as the tension left his body. So, she got terrified at the thought of Ichigo knowing. Then maybe they still had a chance. “No. It’s just me. I just wanted to be sure you wouldn’t break and tell him anything. He doesn’t need more worries on his shoulders right now.”

Tension left Inoue’s shoulders as fast as it has come. She sighed and let her arms drop to her sides as her body relaxed under him. “I won’t crack. I’m stronger than people used to think.” 

“I know. I just needed to be sure.” He pulled back until he was sitting on his heels. “And what about the arrancar?”

Inoue blinked. She understood the real question behind Shiro’s words. The answer flowed easy this time, a winning grin shining in her face. “Ichigo can play with Grimmjow as much as he likes. I’m not jealous of an arrancar.”

Tilting his head he asked in an amused and cocky tone. “Would you like to put a show for him?”

Inoue’s eyes shined with amusement. “You mean, now?”

“Well, if you waited for him to be ready, the war would be over and we wouldn’t have even met.” He smirked openly and caught her wrists. Without any warning, he stood up dragging her with him. “Subtleties have never worked with him. We must try a more shocking approach.”

He dragged the hesitant girl out of the kitchen and threw himself on the couch, yanking Inoue on the top of him. Once the surprise faded, she quickly took the hint and arranged herself to straddle the hollow. When Ichigo woke up, he would be deathly scared if he found Shiro pinning her to the ground, but he would probably be far less afraid and more shocked if Inoue were willingly on top. Or so they hoped.

Shiro made himself comfortable below the girl and looked at her clearly amused. Without a word, he held her waist and ground his groin shamelessly against her. When she noticed him hardening she smirked back boldly.

“After what Ichigo had tried not to tell me about you and Grimmjow, I thought you were more into guys.”

Shiro chuckled and raised one hand to the back of her neck, bringing her close. His lips were almost touching hers when he spoke huskily. “Rather into fucking hot and powerful guys … but I’m not blind to hot chicks, sweetie.”

She grinned and placed her hands on his shoulders for support. “Don’t call me that.” Slowly, she moved to the side of his face and leaned closer to his neck without stopping the slow teasing movements of her hips. “How much do you plan to scare him?”

Her voice was hot against his skin and for a moment he wondered how far she would dare to go—but he decided it wasn’t the best idea to test it today. Just a few hours ago he had the fuck of his life with Grimmjow, so it wasn’t a good idea to deprive Ichigo of his first time with her.

He released her neck and moved the hand to its former place on her waist, stopping her. “I’m gonna wake him up now. It’s been a pleasure, sweetie, we will talk again soon.”

She smiled at him frowning. “I told you to not call me that, I hate it.”

He only chuckled and winked at her. She watched as the black eyes faded slowly and realized that Ichigo was already aware.

“It’s been an interesting night, princess.” The eerie voice was also disappearing, and Inoue strangely missed that threatening edge.

“It has, indeed.” She brushed one hand over his white cheek and felt the rock hard skin soften as the color came. One second later, Ichigo was there, looking incredibly confused, and blushing furiously as he noticed his more than obvious arousal. She realized he was about to panic and for a moment she feared he would just run away. Without really thinking, she held both his wrists on her waist and ground her body again against him, lowering her head closer until she whispered in his ear. “Relax, everything is fine.”

He relaxed slightly but his face was a show of pure distress. “What has he done to you? You aren’t hurt, are you?”

She smiled and pulled back to give him some space, speaking softly to ease his worries. “He hadn’t done anything. We have just been talking. Stop worrying and just relax.”

She moved again, making clear that she was perfectly aware of his arousal. Her voice was pure fire to his heated mind, blurring shamefully his thoughts as the list of reasons he had found to not be in this situation quickly unfocussed (you don’t use two “s” in other places, so for the sake of consistency, stick with one “s”. Either way is right, but I think you should pick one way that feels most comfortable to you. I also have this problem and will be doing a search of my stories to see if I switch between the two spellings) under the overwhelming sensations and her honey voice. “Just _keep_ moving.”

The words extended enough to reach his fading coherent thinking. The implications were as scary as exciting. She had obviously been in this position with Shiro before they reversed bodies, and from the heated state in which he had awakened, they had been playing for quite a while.

Ichigo couldn’t bring himself to forget Shiro’s betrayal. He was not supposed to take over his body without his agreement, and he was not supposed to meet her, not yet. Inoue was probably trying to reassure him, faking an easiness that was most surely far from real. He wished he were wrong … and it took all his resolve to push her back to ask quietly, “You are afraid, aren’t you?”

She bit her lips before answer. She knew that any words she could say would not be enough to ease his mind, as he probably would think she didn’t really mean them. So, remembering Shiro’s advice, she tried to prove it with actions instead of words. She placed Ichigo’s hands back on her waist, and moved one arm to caress Ichigo’s cheek. She slowly drifted her hand to Ichigo’s neck and played lazily with some orange locks while watched him carefully. When he made no move to stop her, he leaned forward until their noses were barely touching.

Her voice was soft but full of a confidence he wished he could also have. “What should I be afraid of, _Ichigo_?” The sound of his name coming from her lips didn’t help him the slightest to keep his mind clear. Her actions weren’t mean to help either. She had moved to his neck, whispering silky words with her lips barely brushing his skin.

“You thought I would be afraid of your hollow?” A tongue ran smoothly along his neck, reaching his ear. “Well, I have already met him. He’s a rather interesting guy … And I’m looking forward to seeing him again.”

Ichigo couldn’t almost register the words as his earlobe was suddenly sucked into that incredibly hot mouth. And her next ones were even more exciting.

“Should I be afraid of your attraction to an arrancar?” He tensed at the question but Inoue didn’t release him. She moved to face him, her eyes staring into those deep chocolate eyes that she had dreamt countless times to have, just right there; and smirked slightly at his stunned face. “I thought we had already talked about that. I’m just a human and I’ve been fucking some shinigami, why should it bother me if you fuck a damn hot arrancar?” She leant closer, her lips brushing his. “We could be dead tomorrow; we shouldn’t be wasting the time we have left, Ichigo.”

It was all that Ichigo could take. He raised one hand to the back of her neck and pressed forward, crushing their lips together in a demanding kiss. Inoue’s desires unlashed as soon as she noticed Ichigo responding eagerly. Her hands were on him, caressing as much skin as she could reach, and moving the black clothes apart where they got in the way.

Ichigo’s arousal had silenced his troubled mind, and once his instincts took the lead, he wasted no time in removing her shirt and bra. His eyes were on fire, as was all the rest of his body. When he caressed Inoue’s breasts, he felt her nipples hardening immediately in his hands. It was so different than his previous teasing with Grimmjow and yet … he wondered how both situations could be so different and yet so arousing.

The kissing became hungrier and they were soon panting hard. Ichigo felt himself incredibly hot, trapped between the couch and Inoue’s gorgeous body. She was still straddling him, but this position became less and less appealing as they were limited to explore their upper bodies. When Ichigo’s hand slipped into Inoue’s pants, hardly (this implies “barely”, do you mean pressing hard?) caressing her wet folds, she quickly stood up. Ichigo looked startled for a moment, wondering if he had gone too fast or too far, but his worries vanished when Inoue took his hand and dragged him up to met her. She crushed their lips together in another heated kiss, and was smiling when they broke apart.

“My bed is far more comfortable than this couch, Ichigo.”

He loved the way his name rolled from her mouth. Unable to articulate any coherent reply, he let her drag him upstairs. Once in her chamber, she pushed him away from the bed with a wicked smile and moved to the far side of the room.

“I hope you don’t mean to crawl into my bed with that many clothes.” She crossed her arms on her chest, half covering her breasts and tilted her head teasingly.

The words fanned Ichigo’s flames so fast that he could almost feel the blood rushing from his head to his groin. He removed his pants and underwear in record time and raised his head to look at her, now fully naked. He stalked to her side awfully slow, with a wide Cheshire grin in his face.

“I never intended to,” he stopped in front of her, his eyes dark with desire, “nor have I planned to let you wear any.” He let one finger brush Inoue’s belly, and moved it slowly down until it reached the waist of her pants. He unfastened easily the tie and forced them past her hips. Smirking, Inoue moved her body gracefully and let the fabric slip to the floor. She moved a step forward and crushed their fully naked bodies together, Ichigo’s rock hard arousal pressing up against her lower belly. Ichigo hissed at the contact and raised both hands to hold her close, one hand buried in her long hair as they kissed again, the other running down her spine to rest on the curve of her back. Inoue’s hands were also all over his body, caressing those unnatural strong muscles of his spiritual body.

After a brief battle of kisses, licks, bites and caresses, both bodies fell tangled onto the bed. Ichigo rolled with her until she was pressed on the mattress below him. With a winning grin, he took a moment to stare at her throbbing body before leaning down to take one nipple in his mouth. Inoue moaned loudly and bucked forward, her hands buried in his hair, pushing him forward in a silent prayer to suck harder. Ichigo gladly complied, massaging her breasts with hands and tongue until she was writhing and groaning under him.

Ichigo’s caresses moved lower and lower, at a painfully slow pace, until he reached her crotch. He could smell her arousal just before his fingers soaked in her folds. When his lips brushed up the inside of her thighs, she moaned softly. Her hands never left his head, her fingers massaging his hair as his tongue ran over her engorged lips. She bit her lip when Ichigo’s fingers pressed deep inside her, stroking her languidly while his tongue flickered on her clit. He kept the rhythm for a while, until she was groaning loudly, the combined massage of his fingers and tongue bringing her close to the edge. The orgasm hit her hard, soaking Ichigo’s fingers as she constricted around them. Breathless, she pulled Ichigo’s head up and crushed her mouth against his. When the kiss ended, they were both panting and smiling dizzily.

After a moment, Inoue raised to sit up on the bed edge, still trying to regain her breath, when she felt Ichigo’s hand brushing softly her back. She turned, smiling, and took her time to enjoy the view. Ichigo was half lying with his weight resting on one elbow. She moved one hand to lightly touch his thigh, moving closer and closer to Ichigo’s arousal but never reaching it. Ichigo swallowed a moan and raised his body to meet hers, seating against her back, embracing her with arms and legs and forcing her head to the side for another heated kiss.

When they broke apart, she was grinning playfully.

“Lay down,” she commanded.

“Why should I? I want to touch you…,” Ichigo tried to tighten the embrace but she quickly detangled from his arms.

“It’s my turn to play,” she licked her lips and tilted her head with a teasing grin, “unless you do not want a proper blow job.”

Ichigo’s eyes shined bright as his arousal became almost painful after her words. Without a second thought, he dropped down onto the bed, his legs dangling on the mattress edge. Smirking slightly, she went to her knees in front of him and brushed her tongue along his thigh, approaching awfully slow to his throbbing hardness, her eyes locked on his the whole time. He groaned and let his head fall to the sheet when Inoue’s lips finally reached its destination, his hand reaching instinctively for Inoue’s head.

She slowly took him as deep as she could, while her hand stroked the skin her tongue didn’t reach. She didn’t dwell in any sweet foreplay and quickly fell into a rhythm, bobbing her head deeply along his length. After a while, when Ichigo’s moans spiked, she moved to lick the sensitive flesh of his balls, his inner thighs and even lower. Ichigo gasped when her tongue caressed his opening, and forced him to his elbows to look incredulously at her. He couldn’t believe he was being rimmed. With a wicked smirk, she brought one finger to her lips, and licked it lustfully while stroked him with the other hand. Ichigo closed his eyes in a desperate attempt to gather his scattering thoughts.

 “I thought you were going to give me a blow job,” he half teased.

“That’s precisely what I’m going to do.” She stroked him languidly while brushing her wet finger around his sensitive opening.

“That’s not exactly what it seems.” He hissed when her finger crossed slightly the tight ring of muscles.

“Then you probably have never been given a good one.” She lowered to lick him again in the sensitive ring of muscles, this time pressing her tongue harder.

Ichigo’s head fell back and moaned loudly. Grinning, Inoue moved to lap along his hard arousal and close her mouth around him, while her finger entered to the second knuckle. She gave him no time to adapt as she started sucking him as deep as she could, stroking with her hand the flesh that didn’t fit into her mouth. Her finger continued the massaging on Ichigo’s opening, and as soon as she felt him relax, she added another one, deepening the reach. Ichigo’s moans grew louder when she found his prostate. She kept the licking, sucking, stroking and massaging, and Ichigo felt completely overwhelmed with the combined sensations. He was groaning unashamedly, his right hand buried in Inoue’s head, his left one spreading over the bed. He tried to hold on, but she gave him no chance. As soon as she felt his release approach, she removed the fingers from his body and moved to cup his balls. Ichigo almost cried when he finally shot his release into her mouth.

Smiling, both crawled into the bed exhausted. It had been an awfully long day, and tomorrow there wouldn’t be any truce in their busy lives. After kissing languidly for a while, they lay there, tiredly trying to regain their breath. They joked a little and soon drifted to sleep, with the promise of a ‘proper fuck’ the next day.

***********

“What’s with this look, hollow?” Grimmjow barked.

Shiro was somehow off today. He was not as focused on their training as he used to be, and the arrancar noticed it easily. It’s been two days since their incursion to Hueco Mundo, and nothing had happened since then, as far as Grimmjow knew. So, there was apparently no reason for this unsettling behavior and it was unnerving him.

“I thought you liked my eyes, arrancar.” Shiro cocky voice easily snapped Grimmjow out of his gloomy mood. Shiro had planned to let Ichigo enjoy his newfound relationship with Inoue and not disturb him for some days, but it was turning into a harder job than he had expected.

Grimmjow snorted. “They piss me off.”

“I wouldn’t say that the other day.” Shiro’s grin was as arrogant as his voice.

“Are you challenging me? Your shinigami looked pissed enough.”

Ichigo had been avoiding Grimmjow’s eyes as much as possible these last two days, and the arrancar had just pretended not to notice it as long as he kept fighting him. It had worked fine so far, but it was becoming annoying if Shiro couldn’t even fight properly.

However, the hollow had other concerns. After two days refraining himself from ravishing the arrancar, he decided to finally surrender to the evidence. Today, Ichigo and his morals could burn in hell as far as Shiro was concerned.

Grinning, Shiro made up his mind. “And when not? I can do whatever the fuck I want when I’m here.”

When Grimmjow noticed the new resolve in Shiro’s eyes, he approached him, stalking slowly to the cocky hollow.

“You did enjoy, didn’t you?” Grimmjow’s low thick voice hushed up the last possible doubts Shiro could have been keeping.

“Of course I did, asshole.” He tilted his head, his grin spreading wider and his voice lowering to match Grimmjow’s. “But I’m not in a hurry today.”

When they were a few feet apart, Grimmjow raised his sword to pull aside Shiro’s jacket with the tip of the blade, slightly scratching the pale skin along the way. The hollow grinned but sharply pushed the zanpakuto aside with his bare hand. He stalked slowly to close the distance between them and when he reached him, he turned to circle around the arrancar with a predatory grin.

“I’m not in that mood today,” Shiro whispered on his back.

He raised his left hand to grip Grimmjow’s shoulder and embraced him with his other hand, raising Zangetsu to his throat. Grimmjow made no sign to stop him, and the hollow moved his head closer to whisper roughly in the arrancar’s ear. “Right now, I was thinking of something different.”

Grimmjow’s grin turned into a lustful smirk. Paying no attention to the blade threatening his throat, he discarded Pantera to the ground and moved his hand to grab Shiro’s ass roughly. The arrancar brought their bodies closer and blatantly ground his ass on the hollow’s groin. “And what do you have in mind exactly, _hollow_?”

Shiro tightened his grip and Zangetsu tore easily the skin on Grimmjow’s neck. Bright red rivulets slid down the arrancar’s neck from the shallow cut, but he still made no move to remove the blade. Shiro lowered his other hand to grind against the arrancar’s groin, noticing him hardening at his next words.”I’m gonna tie you up and then, I’m gonna fuck you so rough you will not be able to walk back to Hueco Mundo, _arrancar_.”

 

 


	7. Seireitei. Part I.

**Soul Society. The morning after the war.**

The day started much better that the previous night had been. Under the sun, everything looked less dark and gloomy and after a few hours of a good deep sleep, Ichigo felt his energy completely restored, as well as his resolve.

The captains meeting had been scheduled for the next day and he was going to explain what really happened during his fight with Aizen. He still hadn’t talked with his friends and it wasn’t fair that they had to discover the truth by a meeting report. They deserved to hear everything from his own lips and today it was the last chance he had to approach them. 

When the sun was high in the sky, he asked Yamamoto permission to move freely around Soul Society, swearing countless times he won’t cause the slightest trouble. After half of the captains supported his petition, the old Captain-Commander agreed to grant him license to wander around the Seireitei, but he also warned him that he would be tracked, and explicitly forbade him to left Soul Society. 

Ichigo’s mood was as good as it could be, despite his ever present worries. He had tried to come up with an easy explanation, but after some failed attempts, he decided to just find them and improvise, hopping everything would be fine. 

So, he quickly ran to look for Renji and Rukia, only to discover with some disappointment that they were going to spend the day in Karakura’s town, working on its reconstruction. Still cursing on his bad luck, he found Inoue in the infirmary, who told him that Sado and Ishida had also moved to the Living World. He started to consider if he should take it as a signal of the destiny and just gave up, but his resolve came back when he heard Hirako’s voice. He was loudly complaining with Hiyori about some pointless issue, loud enough for the whole medical building to hear. Ichigo took a deep breath and moved to their room, unsure about the best way to confess everything to them. 

“Hi guys…”

“Ichigo!” Both vizards turned to face him, grinning widely. Ichigo felt the weight of his worries lighter, wondering for the first time if he had just been overdramatic. 

“How are you? I heard from Inoue that you got a nasty wound.” Ichigo looked Hiyori’s frown, regretting his words as he noticed the shift in the mood. 

“That bastard almost killed me… he’s gonna regret attacking me from behind.” Hiyori’s deathly stare softened as Shinji squeezed her arm. 

“I’ve heard he’ll be judged by treason. He’s gonna pay for everything.” His voice sounded sharp as a knife. He took a deep breath to calm himself before turning to face Ichigo, who was staring him with puzzled eyes. He had no idea about the author of Hiyori’s wound, but he wrongly assumed it was Aizen. He didn’t know much about Gin participating actively in the fight before he arrived there… And now, all his previous worries came back, increased tenfold by the recent discovered hostility toward the silver haired shinigami. The force of the realization hit him hard, as he understood Urahara’s apprehension when he had talked about a war between friends… Most of the old shinigami had been holding a dislike for Gin’s character, but since Aizen’s treason, this feeling of muted hostility had developed into an open hate. It won’t be easy to change that, and Urahara had witness everything the moment the warned Gin. 

Ichigo made his choice in that moment. He owned that man not only Aizen’s defeat but also his inner peace, something he could have never obtained by himself. Even if it took his life, he was going to do everything to make his dream true. Even if it meant fighting half Soul Society. Again.

“Ichigo?” Shinji was staring him, slightly surprised by the change in the young man’s expression.

“We need to talk. I have something important to tell you”. 

Shinji noticed the seriousness of his voice, as well as his sudden resolve. Both knew Hiyori was not the best listener, so they moved away from her bed to a more private room at the far side of the building complex. Both walked without a word until they reached a small comfortable room, where Shinji dropped down tiredly into a chair. Ichigo took a seat by his side and start verbalizing the answers to the unasked questions wandering around the Seireitei about Aizen’s defeat. 

“I didn’t fight Aizen as a Vizard.” Ichigo looked at Shinji, but the other shinigami waited in silence for him to continue. “I fought him using my full hollow power.”

Shinji widened slightly his eyes “What do you mean exactly? Did your hollow take control over you?”

“No. He let me use his full released body to fight.” Ichigo’s eyes were locked on Shinji’s, weighing carefully his words.

“And how did you do this?” It wasn’t a simple question and Ichigo knew it. It implied that Ichigo’s control of the hollow powers were on a different level that where it should have been.

Ichigo sighed. “I lied to you. I never crushed him… the truth is, we never really fought; even though he’d always been stronger than me. We found an agreement, so he lends me his power any time I need it.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Shinji’s eyes shivered dangerously “You weren’t faking that damn mask.”

“Of course not. I can use it. But I can also go further. I can use not only the mask, but his whole body.” Ichigo’s eyes refused to leave Shinji’s, as the vizard’s reiatsu started to spike dangerously. 

“It means that your fucking hollow can try to overpower you at anytime? That you hadn’t cut it out?”

“I do have cut it out. He is not trying to control me, even though he does overpower me.”

“You must be kidding. This kind of control is not possible with his power level. You are walking on an extremely dangerous ground. To try an agreement with a hollow is a very stupid thing to do!” Shinji’s voice was razor sharp and his reiatsu barely retained below his cracking self control.” You can never be sure when he’ll snap and hurt somebody. How the hell did you come up with such a fucking crazy idea?” 

Ichigo didn’t like the direction of the conversation, as it seemed to point directly to Gin again… and hopelessly realized that Urahara had also foretold this point. He tried to change the subject before it backfired him.

“I have it perfectly controlled. My soul isn’t unbalanced and I’m not gonna lose myself.”

“If your mind cracks, you are gonna lose it completely.” His eyes closed to thin slits, voice bitter with hardly controlled rage. 

Ichigo felt his control slip, as he noticed his words were falling to deaf ears. His hollow was screaming for beating him into comprehension and he sadly realized that if Shiro ever get out in a situation like this one, it would be immediately interpreted as his own failure at keeping him under control.

“My mind won’t crack.” Ichigo’s mood darkened with Shinji’s dreadful assumptions. 

“I can make you crack as easily as the first time you came to us.”

Ichigo felt his blood boil. He hadn’t expected the conversation to degenerate this much. He had never had much patience, and his recklessness took the best of him. “You are more than welcome to try… but I won’t happen again.”

Both were looking each other coldly, none of them willing to break the visual contact. 

“We will see… If you still think you can keep it in control, come in one hour to our place. I ‘ll bring the others to show you how sadly wrong you are, Ichigo.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Ichigo stormed out of the room. He had tried to remain calm but Shinji’s stubbornness had gotten on his nerves. While he was still trying to get out of the building complex, he run into Inoue, who dragged him out to cool down.

Inoue listened calmly to the entire story and didn’t say a word until Ichigo finally stopped talking. Both were sitting on the ground, in one of the four division gardens. Ichigo was holding his knees in his arms, and was now resting his head buried between his legs. Inoue was far more nervous than she showed, as she had a terribly bad feeling about the whole situation. As far as she had understood, the vizards were going to fight him expecting the hollow to surface, while Ichigo was ready to take the beating without let Shiro out, just to prove them that he can do it. The problem is that they will push him close to the limit, where Shiro had always appeared just in time to save Ichigo’s life. Without his intervention, Ichigo was clearly exposed to the death’s claws. 

Inoue offered to go there with him, but he roundly refused, arguing it was something he needed to do alone. She knew him enough not to try to argue once he had taken a decision, and reluctantly let him go. However, as soon as he was out of sight, she wasted no time and went to search the only person who could actually help her.

She found Matsumoto working at her division office, dealing boringly with a huge mountain of paper work. The blond vice-captain listened her nervous friend and before Inoue had even asked for help, a Seinkaimon gate opened in front of her. 

“We are running out of time. Eight vizards are far too powerful for us to do anything. We need all the help we can manage. Look for your human friends and join me again at the door.”

“Thanks Rangiku… The four of us could help him?”

“I’ll bring Rukia and Renji back… but even the six of us won’t be a match for them.” Inoue’s eyes widened with sorrow, but Matsumoto smirked her, running through the gate “But we can put a hell of a fight.” 

Inoue jumped on her heels, feeling Ichigo’s reiatsu approaching the vizards, before the gate closed and she lost all energy tracks. 

……………………………………………..

Ichigo was panting heavily, and Shinji was still attacking him merciless. He had released his bakai and wore his mask, but the blond vizard was stronger, even without going further than using his shikai. Ichigo’s only reason to last this long was the restriction time Shinji had with his mask, while he can use his endless. Unfortunately, he was close to his energy limit. He was currently bleeding from several cuts, where Shinji’s zanpakuto had reached him, the steel biting just enough to draw blood without threaten his life. The vizard was trying to exhaust him, and Ichigo was already feeling the dizziness of the blood lost. 

The other vizards were just standing behind, even the barely recovered Hiyori, all of them waiting for the moment when the hollow surfaced to bring him down. Ichigo had repeated the story in front of the whole group, with the very same effect. 

Ichigo raised Zangetsu to barely stop Shinji’s blade, his knee bent to the floor to hold the vizard’s power, as he supported his zanpakuto with his forearm. He slowly raised his head to meet Shinji’s gaze, searching for a signal of understanding, but the vizard only smirked as he noticed Ichigo’s reiatsu decreasing. 

The young shinigami was starting to seriously worrying… The last time he had forbidden Shiro to fight, he almost ended up killed by Ulquiorra, and he only saved his life thanks to the hollow disobedience. This time, if Shiro didn’t help him, the result may be fatal, because Shinji was starting to attack him harder. However, if Shiro did get out, it would be interpreted as his failure to control him, so it would mean the vizards were right…. And Shiro wasn’t strong enough to fight the eight vizards. So, he was fucked anyway.

He cursed his recklessness for jumping into the obvious trap he was currently facing. He accepted Shinji’s challenge without a second though, and it had been the stupidest thing he had done in quite a long time. 

His thoughts were interrupted as Shinji summoned his mask again and pointed two fingers at him. Ichigo’s eyes widened as he realized he was going to shoot a cero at him, and he had no energy left to deflect it. The moment the glow left Shinji’s hand, he heard Inoue’s voice. For a heartbeat, he thought he was dreaming, until the golden shell in front of him spoke otherwise. The cero impacted with Inoue’s shell, which barely slowed it, cracking almost immediately, but at the very same moment, several things happen at once. 

The moment Ichigo saw Inoue’s shell, he made up his mind. One thing was getting beaten to prove his point, and another whole different thing was including his friends in a lost fight. The situation brought back memories from Ulquiorra’s battle, and the guilty feeling he had since that moment forced him to take action before the same mistake could harm his friends again. 

As soon as the shell cracked, a pair of liquid golden eyes met the blond vizard’s, while a bright red cero intercepted Shinji’s, the force of the shockwave stunning all the presents. All the vizards jumped at Shiro’s throat the moment they detected the hollow’s reiatsu, but were surrounded by a hell of thousands of Quincey arrows covered with sharp cutting ashes. Ishida and Matsumoto combined attach slowed the vizards and bought them enough time to strategically surround Shiro’s body. When the ashes cleared, the vizards froze at the pictured displayed in front of them. 

Inoue was just in front of Ichigo’s hollow, protecting him with her body, her face a mask of deathly resolve. Both sides were covered by Ichigo’s human friends, Chad and Ishida ready to attack. On his back, two vice-captains and a lower rank shinigami were also staring them with released Zanpakutos. 

Shinji’s frown deepened as he desperately tried to think in a way of to protect Ichigo’s friends from the powerful hollow they unconsciously attempted to defend. They obviously thought they were protecting Ichigo, but he knew better. He had faced this hollow once, and knew that the group of people gathered around him weren’t a match to his power. 

“You look much better, Quincy”. The eerie sound of Shiro’s voice shook all the presents.

To Shinji’s utterly surprise, Ishida smirked at the hollow, not sounding the slightest surprised by what his friend had just become. 

“I can’t say the same, hollow. Their masks look far more frightening than you.”

“Are you complaining? I’d show you mine again, but I’m afraid that Ichigo will…”

Ishida cut him to finish the sentence, “Yeah, yeah, Ichigo will be pissed.”

Shiro chucked and turn his gaze to Inoue. He slowly touched her in the shoulder and deliberately left his hand there looking carefully at the vizards, all of them visibly tensing. Inoue swallowed her nervousness. It was the first time that Shiro touched her in front of other people and forced herself to show her best calm face. She lowered the arms she still had extended to both sides, as to emphasize as much as possible her protecting stance. Slowly, she covered Shiro’s iron grip with her soft hand in a reassuring sign, speaking to the hollow without unlocking her eyes from Shinji stare. 

“Are both of you OK?”

“No, he’s not. I’m barely keeping his wounds closed, but there are too many.” The black-golden eyes shined with hate as he spoke directly to Shinji’s amazement. “Heal him as soon as he appears. Don’t let him play hero. Tell your friends to knock him down if he complains too much.”

Beside him Renji chuckled, his voice slightly amused with Shiro’s attitude towards Ichigo “It’ll be a pleasure, hollow”.

Shiro flashed him his best wicked grin and reversed bodies. Chad and Ishida held quickly both Ichigo’s arms as his legs collapsed. Inoue’s shield was on him immediately.

Now Ichigo was sure he was dreaming. A pleasant warming feeling enveloped him, and the echo of his friend’s voices sang in his ears. It took him some minutes to recognize the warm pleasure as Inoue’s powers. He opened his eyes to find his friends surrounding him, zanpakutos released and ready to strike. Ishida and Chad were also there, both facing Shinji with arm and bow ready in hand. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Shinji’s voice sounded clearly irritated.

“Stopping this nonsense. Kurosaki is naïve enough to think he can prove some stupid point getting beaten… As usual, he came here without a plan and everything had spiraled out of control.” Ishida fixed his glasses, without breaking eyes contact with the vizard. “I’d ask you to stop antagonizing him.”

“Antagonizing him?” Shinji’s eyes widen in disbelieve. “I’ve just proved the fact than when he loses his mind, his hollow surfaces.”

“So what?” Ishida’s calm gaze contrasted with Shinji’s exasperation. 

“With his power level, the hollow taking over his body is extremely dangerous for all the people around him. He needs to be more careful with all this shit!”

Ishida didn’t look the slightest concerned. “I was there the last time Ichigo ‘lost his mind’. He almost got killed by an espada and only survived because the hollow appeared. He saved not only Ichigo’s life, but also Inoue’s and mine’s.”

Ishida also was stabbed by Shiro’s rage, but he didn’t feel like sharing such a small detail at that moment. 

Shinji was lost of words for the very first time since all this started. He turned around to have a look at the rest of the vizards, but they look as puzzled as him. Ishida was ready to speak again, but was cut by Ichigo’s tired voice. “Enough Ishida, you talk too much.”

“That’s because you obviously don’t”. 

“I’ve talked enough this time. Sorry guys if I’ve worried you.” The golden shield faded as Ichigo slowly stood up, his gaze down as the words he had feared to say for the last day started to leave his mouth. There was no turning back now. 

“Tomorrow I’ll be giving the full chronicle of Aizen’s battle in the captain counsel. I wanted to tell everything to you before you discovered the truth reading the meeting report… as I consider you my friends.” Ichigo slowly raised his head to meet Shinji’s ice stare. “I’m going to repeat myself just to let my ‘other’ friends know that as I willingly share my body with a ‘damn powerful hollow’ I can use his full power, not only his mask. And…“ Ichigo rose his voice to stop Shinji from talking, “…I’m going to show you exactly how I do it without ‘losing my mind’” Ichigo’s eyes were reduced to slits as his frown grew, the bitterness of his last words biting hard into Shinji’s stubbornness. 

Ichigo felt his willpower fraying under the vizard hostile stare and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to go on if the rest of his friends also doubted him. Not daring to risk a backward glance and hoping that Hachi’s barrier was strong enough, he leveled his sword with his arm extended and placed his left hand on his right forearm. All the presents recognized the stance that Ichigo used to summon his bankai, but were clueless at his intentions as he already was in bankai mode. Shinji saw a flash of resolution in Ichigo’s eyes when he slightly smirked and two words left his mouth before the full force of a wild reiatsu darkened the room. 

“Protect Zangetsu.”

All the people in the room shivered at the untamed power emanating from what a moment ago was Ichigo’s body. Ishida and Inoue easily recognize Shiro’s released form, but even they couldn’t recognize the source of that reiatsu. Back there, when fighting Ulquiorra, Shiro’s power was clearly a hollow reiatsu; wild, powerful and dark. This time, however, it wasn’t only that. Coiled together, there was also a remembrance of Ichigo’s shinigami reiatsu. The vizards looked at their captain, divided between the growing need to get rid of this unknown menacing figure and the rising curiosity that froze them in place. Shinji looked almost defeated, while he stared at what had been his friend in an utterly sad gaze. Ichigo suddenly realized that the vizard had given up all hopes to save him. That was the look of somebody who had just seen his friend die.

The sight made Ichigo’s resolve stronger. He hadn’t run all the way here to find himself facing the perfect display of hopelessness. He slowly turned around to have a look at the rest of his friends. Ishida, Inoue and Chad had their gazes focused on the vizards, ready to jump at the first suspicious movement from their side. Behind him, Renji and Rukia were staring with puzzled expressions at his back, where his hollow hole was only partially covered by his long orange hair. Between the two shinigami, Matsumoto tried her best to look as surprised as the rest, although Ichigo could notice the shadow of a smile in the corners of her mouth. It was a small gesture, but it was enough to bring him back from the pessimistic spiral he was swirling into. 

He slowly brought his left hand to his mask and moved it to the upper part of his head, revealing the completely white skin of Shiro’s face. 

“Ichigo?” Rukia was the first to recognize the brown chocolate eyes of his friend.

“Yeah, it’s me.” He smirked to the amazed face of his friends and turned around to face Shinji, a winner grin shining widely in his face. “So, this is what I meant when I told you ‘all my hollow power’. You still think I’m losing it?”

Shinji looked incredulous at Ichigo’s eyes. He had been training with him long enough to know the black-golden eyes and the eerie voice that came with Ichigo’s mask, but none of them was currently there. 

“How have you done it?” Shinji’s voice was slightly shaking “When did you release him?”

Ichigo clearly understood the real question laying behind these words. The blond shinigami still thought that at some point during the last fight, he had decided to let the hollow free to gain more power. The truth pierced like an icy stab into Shinji’s heart. 

“I already told you. I never caged him. I was faking since the day I was supposed to crush him. I’m really sorry… I should have told you long ago.”

“Why… why you decided to keep something like this to yourself?” Shinji’s voice was now cracking, disappointment sinking deep in his eyes. 

Ichigo let his reiatsu dissipate as he came back to his original body and sheathed Zangetsu on his back. The mood was currently so depressing that he couldn’t imagine any physical danger at the moment. 

“You wouldn’t agree. You would try to convince me… and I couldn’t deal with it at that time. I wasn’t ready.”

“And what’s different now?” Shinji stared the orange haired boy. Ichigo didn’t flinch.

“I trust him.”

Shinji’s gaze hardened “This is gonna be your report tomorrow?”

When Ichigo just nodded, the blond vizard also sheathed his zanpakuto and spoke again, his words sharp as his blade. “So, you are going to change your old friends for this new… ‘partner.’” 

Ichigo’s voice rose as the anger started to crawl under his skin again. “I’m not changing anybody. My friends won’t let me, they trust me!”

“Oh, I see. And will they trust the ‘thinking mind’ behind your current situation? Or would you dare to tell me all this had been your idea?” Shinji’s eyes pierced hard through Ichigo’s soul, the claws of uncertainty slowly ripping at his recent found resolve as he remembered the hard look Rukia had given Gin the day before in his cell.

Shinji smirked at the suddenly worried face of the young boy, but decided that it was enough for the moment. He turned around, walking slowly towards the rest of the vizards. “If I were you, I would start thinking a good explanation before the meeting. The captain commander won’t be so uncaring in that matter.”

The vizards left without a backward glance, and Ichigo dropped down to the ground as soon as the tension in the ambient disappeared with them. Inoue was the first one to react. She kneeled down close to his friend and placed one arm on his shoulders.

“C’mon Ichigo, it could had been worse.” Her voice sounded as cheerful as she could manage. 

“Tomorrow it’ll be worse.” Ichigo’s voice was unreadable, his face the perfect mask of hopelessness again. His friends looked at him confused. Only Matsumoto understood Ichigo’s worries. Nobody will trust him if he told them that everything had been Gin’s idea. And the wicked point is that he had to reveal this detail if he wanted to prove Gin’s help previous to the battle. Both ways, he was screwed up. 

Renji was the first to ask him the feared question. “So, who gave you that idea? Why are they so furious?”

Ichigo looked at him wearily. “You think I've fucked it up?”

Renji took a moment to respond. He finally sighed and fixed his gaze on Ichigo’s tired eyes. “You defeated Aizen and you seem to be fine so far. So I guess it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. But I don’t get why they looked so pissed.”

Before Ichigo could respond, Matsumoto also kneeled in front of him, placing a hand on his chin a forcing him to met her stare. “You’ve done enough, Kurosaki. It’s pointless to delay it. They are going to know anyway, so you better do it know.”

Ichigo smiled sadly to the blonde shinigami. She was right. It was stupid to try to skip the matter if tomorrow he would be facing Yamamoto. He took a deep breath and spoke quickly before his mind decided otherwise. 

“Gin convinced me to make a deal with Shiro and had been training us for the last month.”

Renji’s eyes widened. “Captain Ichimaru?”

“HE has been training YOU?” Matsumoto’s voice was like a bucket of icy water. Ichigo realized too late that Gin still hadn’t explained anything to her… so she was probably imaging the former captain visiting him every fucking day while ignoring her.

“No, no, no! He just gave me the idea. I was training with Grimmjow!”

He was relieved to see Matsumoto relaxing but he had no time to recover as Rukia hard voice stabbed him. “You were training with Grimmjow? The very same espada that almost kill US TWICE?”

Ichigo’s gaze fell down defeated… he had completely forgotten about that point, while Rukia obviously didn’t.

“I need to be alone for a while, sorry guys.” She left without any backward glance. 

Suddenly, Renji punched him in the head, smirking playfully. “I almost kill you twice also, don’t be so mean! She just needs time.” He slowly stood up, grinning openly. “It’s been an awfully interesting morning, but I should be going to Karakura before they missed me there. Are you coming, guys?” Ishida and Chad smiled Ichigo reassuringly and followed Renji, who was already in front of a Senkaimon opened under Matsumoto’s zanpakuto. The blonde shinigami smiled happily before returning to the paperwork at her barracks, waving her hand as she walked away. 

Ichigo looked at Inoue. He smiled her tiredly and fell onto his back, his arm bent over his eyes. She stared at him for a moment, before leaning down, resting on an elbow to face him better. 

“Are you gonna be OK, Ichigo?”

He chucked softly “Yeah… I think so. It’s just that I thought it would be easier… I guess Urahara really knows them better.”

“You met them a month ago. Urahara had been his friend for over a century, and he was a shinigami captain before that. You really still doubted him?” 

Besides her soft expression and warm voice Ichigo easily read the hard truth that lay behind. The old shinigami had pictured the worst possible scenario for the Hoygoku and he had been painfully right, so his worries this time should better not be ignored. And if what he feared was a civil war…

A thunderous crack interrupted their thoughts. A blinding bluish light appeared out of nowhere, and they could just glimpse a net of bright rips all over what it looked like a sphere before it cracked and faded. They hushed as their eyes adjusted enough to focus at the two white figures standing on all fours in the ground. 

Ichigo’s breathing deepened, his eyes widened and the panic started to coil all over him. His reiatsu rose to match his distress, but Inoue froze him in place, her voice soft and completely calm. “Be quiet. They are wearing wristbands.”

Ichigo suddenly realized that he couldn’t sense any energy from them and he felt almost ashamed not to notice that before. For a moment, he had imagined the whole of Soul Society chasing after them.

“Damn Szayel… This is what he calls ‘a little instability’?” Grimmjow rose to sit on his heels while trying to regain its breath. By his side, his partner was already standing, wiping the dust from his white cloths. 

“At least it won’t cost you an eye to report him back”. If he was annoyed, the voice left no signs of it. His eyes scanned quickly the surrounding area and focused on Inoue. “You are coming with me, woman.”

Ichigo jumped in front of her, his hand griping the hilt of Zangetzu still sheathed on his back. “Like hell you are gonna take her again. Get the fuck out of here”. His voice was icy cold, his reiatsu barely contained as the rage heated up his blood, still bursting with the adrenaline of the previous fight. 

Grimmjow sighed and stood up between them, raising his arms in a gesture of exasperation. “What the fuck are you doing?” He approached the shinigami and stretched his arm to hold Ichigo’s wrist, still clenched to the hilt of his zanpakuto. 

Ichigo made no move to stop the arrancar, but the tension didn’t leave his body. His voice was hardly contained, barely a whisper. “You ain’t gonna take her. Not again, Grimmjow”.

The former espada snorted. “I thought we were on the same side now, Kurosaki.” 

The voice was low and rough, but somehow it did calm him slightly. However, Ichigo was not at ease with the other arrancar still staring at them. “Then why the fuck are you trying to kidnap her this time?”

Finally, Inoue managed to compose herself and push Ichigo aside. “Ichigo, it’s hardly a kidnapping if they are here talking with us”. She approached carefully the paler arrancar, her voice more serious than she intended “What do you want from me, Ulquiorra?”

The espada’s face was as expressionless as she remembered, but she noticed something different in his eyes. They seemed somehow brighter, if that was even possible. 

“We have somebody badly hurt. We want you to heal her.” His voice was as flat as always, his peremptory tone easily identifiable. It was clearly a command, not a request. 

“Her? Is Nell hurt?” Ichigo’s worries skyrocketed again.

Both arrancars turned to face him, speaking almost at the same time.

“You know her?” Ulquiorra looked almost surprised; it was the first real emotion that Inoue had ever seen in his pale face. 

“You think she is the only female arrancar?” On the other hand, Grimmjow was mildly amused at Ichigo’s new outburst. His voice took and edgy tone, aiming for a verbal confrontation with his more than willing partner. 

“I do know that she was hurt the last time I saw her, dumbass!” Ichigo’s body tensed again, clearing away Grimmjow’s hand off his wrist and wielding Zangetsu in front of him, challenging the arrancar to approach again. 

Inoue noticed the chance in the mood, realizing that both were falling in their usual arguing routine. Most of the tension had already left Ichigo’s body, so she decided to move on. 

“While the kids play, would you mind to explain me the situation? Who I’m supposed to heal?”

Grimmjow and Ichigo stilled at her words but before they could verbalize a protest, Ulquiorra’s composed voice summed up the last events. 

“Nelliel is perfectly fine. She helped to heal most of the injured, and all of them are almost recovered but one. During the fight at Karakura, Aizen hurt her badly and neither Nelliel nor Szayel have been able to help her. You must come with us and fix her body, woman.”

“Aizen hurt her? Why? Did she betray him?” Ichigo knew almost nothing about the fight at the fake Karakura before his arrival except by the few comments he had heard around… and none of them was related with any arrancar attacking Aizen.

“It doesn’t matter.” Ulquiorra didn’t bother to look at him and kept his eyes on Inoue’s.

Inoue realized they were not going to get any more information if the arrancar didn’t consider it necessary, what obviously didn’t, so she left the questions for a better chance. “Ok, I’m coming with you. But, by the way, my name is not woman.” 

The arrancar voice didn’t change the slightest bit. “I know.”

“Wait, wait. I’m coming too. There’s no way I’m letting you going there alone again.” Ichigo jumped to catch Inoue by the sleeve, his sword pointing Ulquiorra.

“You can’t.” She freed her arm sharply and put her hand on his wrist, forcing the zanpakuto down. “You are being tracked. You can’t leave Soul Society. I’ll be fine.” The last words were meant to be reassuringly, but Ichigo was still doubtful. 

Ulquiorra ignored Ichigo’s complains and spoke directly to the other arrancar. “There’s another thing we must do before leaving. We must deliver the message to Gin.” 

“It’ll be extremely difficult…” Ichigo had finally regained his composure, as Inoue didn’t seem to be in an immediate danger. He had also acknowledged the truth of her words, despite they sounded bitter when he pronounced them aloud. “As I’m being tracked, I can’t get close to his cell… “

“Can we find somebody else who can help us?” Ulquiorra’s question was vague enough not to bring out suspicious of anybody, but his tone suggested that Ichigo or Inoue could be able to find a ‘turncoat’ amongst the shinigami. Someone like himself, he realized bitterly. 

Ichigo understood the implications of his inquiring, but didn’t know how much the arrancar really know, or if he should even trust him. Gin had never told him a word about Ulquiorra or any of the other espadas. He tried to make the arrancar talk before deciding to go further. “Who do you trust here?”

Ulquiorra didn’t answer for a while. He neither had any idea of how much these young brats know about Gin’s plans, nor if he could trust them after all.” When he just waited in silence for a while, Grimmjow snorted. He had never been much patient but looking at Ichigo and Ulquiorra distrusting each other was unnerving him. He moved between them yelling unabashedly.

“Shut the fuck up. We do are at the same side. Stop this nonsense… Can we reach Matsumoto?”

“Do you know her?” Both Ichigo and Inoue were looking at him surprised that he even knew her name.

Ulquiorra sighed with an exasperated look. “This is a nightmare… Didn’t Gin tell you anything, Kurosaki?” 

“It’s possible… What should I know?” Ichigo was stubbornly reluctant to trust the arrancar, even though Grimmjow seemed to be perfectly at ease with him. Oddly, they looked much more comfortable around each other than the other times that Ichigo had seen them together. 

Inoue had been watching quietly until now. He easily realized the respective distrust between Ichigo and Ulquiorra, besides the attempts from Grimmjow’s part to easy the mood. She decided to bet everything to one card and rely in Gin’s arrancars. She jumped in the middle of the small group, shouting commands at everybody.

“Ok, enough of this! Grimmjow, go with Ichigo to find Matsumoto. She must have arrived at her barracks by now. I’ll go with Ulquiorra to heal their friend.” 

“She is not exactly our friend.” Grimmjow tried to clarify the point, but Ichigo cut him sharply.

“I’m not letting you go alone, Inoue.” 

She was now visibly irritated at Ichigo’s narrow mind. She tried to keep the anger out of her voice, but she only success partially, as her voice sounded far more assertive than she had intended. “I said, shut the fuck up! If you are gonna stand up for Gin, you better start trusting his friends. I’ll go and come back before anybody even miss me, because nobody wants more troubles between Gin and Soul Society, am I right?” She looked Ulquiorra to make sure that the last part was clearly understood. 

Ulquiorra looked unimpressed by her subtle blackmail. “Perfectly right. Nobody will miss you here, we will come back as soon as you finish healing her.”

“Fine.” Ichigo had no other option than to agree… although he did it reluctantly. 

Without any more words, Ulquiorra and Inoue departed to Hueco Mundo, while Ichigo and Grimmjow moved to look for Matsumoto.


End file.
